Johannesburg vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Johannesburg	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1204	$1010
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2788	$2467
🏠 One person rent	$547	$555
🏘️ Family rent	$919	$956
🍽️ Food expenses	$351	$325
🚐 Transport expenses	$210	$35.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$420	$512
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	73	8
😀 Quality of life	60	55
🏙️ Population	4.8M	77.6K

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 19% more expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 4745th and 5497th ($1204 vs $1010) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 1st in South Africa and Thailand, respectively. Check South Africa vs Thailand comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.5 months in Phuket. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Phuket ranked 9th in Thailand, while ranked 5850th and 6330th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Phuket

Prices for goods and services in Johannesburg and Phuket are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Johannesburg	Phuket
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12.2	$5.76
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46	$40.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.16	$9.13
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$2.46
☕ Cappuccino	$2.41	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.2	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$473	$650
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$385	$429
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$862	$1157
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$679	$761
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$106	$63.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$164	$96.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.8	$19
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.88%	5.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1060	$3728
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$777	$2603
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.85	$1.53
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$92.2	$23.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.38	$11.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.42	$1.39
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$1.74
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.24	$1.51
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$1.59
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.48	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.99	$19.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.77	$3.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.11	$11.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$3.02
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$2.3
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$2.17
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.51
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.58	$1.36
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.1	$19.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.89	$1.87
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.4	$4.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.66	$3.35
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.33	$2.44
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.25	$1.33
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$1.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.8	$53.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.59	$7.75
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31	$29.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.27	$5.56
👖 Brand Jeans	$57.1	$64.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$97.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$244	$565
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5103	$13979

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$1104
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$912
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$1031
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$851
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$784
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$997
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$1015
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$742
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$950
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$994
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$902
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$875
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$872
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$811
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$903
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$691
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$723
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$691
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$607
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$882
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$663
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$494
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$660
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$615
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$611
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$549
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$904
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$912
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$590
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1014
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$938
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$632
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$965

Cities near Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$784
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$836
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$806
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$582
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$788
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$747
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$616
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$588
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$735
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$592
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$766
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$812
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$545
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$429
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$762
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$720
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$439
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$555
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$531
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$677
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$453
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$449
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$567
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$449
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$678
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$787
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$459
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$470
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$550
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$809
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$839
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$743
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$741
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$766
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$718
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$783
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$799
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$992