Johannesburg vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Johannesburg	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$993	$1637
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2403	$3629
🏠 One person rent	$441	$944
🏘️ Family rent	$809	$1530
🍽️ Food expenses	$288	$375
🚐 Transport expenses	$181	$183
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1383	$2731
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	72	72
😀 Quality of life	57	78
🏙️ Population	4.43M	7.01M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 39% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 5539th and 2911th ($993 vs $1637) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 1st in South Africa and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Saudi Arabia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Johannesburg compared to 1.7 months in Riyadh. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 5667th and 733rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Riyadh infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Riyadh

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

	Johannesburg	Riyadh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.65	$9.31
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$37.9	$53.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.9	$8.02
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$1.88
☕ Cappuccino	$2.01	$4.16
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.99	$0.76
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$377	$1001
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$318	$748
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$790	$2174
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$627	$1140
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.9	$69.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$107
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.5	$75.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.55%	5.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1031	$2485
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$684	$1703
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.62	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72	$37.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.35	$18.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.28	$0.61
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.71
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$1.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$2.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$2.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$8.14
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$9.75
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.12	$13.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$2.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.7
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.86
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$2.14
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.96	$8.71
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.25	$1.72
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.97	$7.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.59	$2.8
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$4.03
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.88	$2.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.42	$5.22
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.2	$102
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.2	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$27.8	$52.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.55	$7.23
👖 Brand Jeans	$48.5	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.8	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$214	$404
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5271	$10598

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$953
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$837
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$923
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$785
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$678
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$807
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$906
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$672
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$820
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$889
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$784
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$795
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$768
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$748
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$780
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$665
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$691
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$664
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$562
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$763
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$628
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$442
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$621
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$631
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$567
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$540
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$814
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$964
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$583
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1068
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$809
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$624
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003

Cities near Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$969
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$861
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$1068
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1056
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$901
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$897
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1223
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1243
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1280
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1041
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1779
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1709
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1393
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$846
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$740
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$736
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$551
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$723
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$547
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$904
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$544
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$905
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$546
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$548
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$672
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1215
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$557
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$536
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$582
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$597
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$979
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$589
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$683
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$902
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$547
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$529