Johannesburg vs Rome - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Johannesburg	Rome
🚶 Cost of living one person	$993	$1718
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2403	$4113
🏠 One person rent	$441	$929
🏘️ Family rent	$809	$1682
🍽️ Food expenses	$288	$472
🚐 Transport expenses	$181	$164
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1383	$1842
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	72	92
😀 Quality of life	57	86
🏙️ Population	4.43M	2.75M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 42% less expensive than in Rome. Cities ranked 5539th and 2624th ($993 vs $1718) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in South Africa and Italy, respectively. Check South Africa vs Italy comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Johannesburg compared to 1.1 months in Rome. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Rome ranked 1st in Italy, while ranked 5667th and 337th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Rome infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Rome

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

	Johannesburg	Rome
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.65	$14.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$37.9	$60.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.9	$10.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$5.2
☕ Cappuccino	$2.01	$1.67
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.99	$2.38
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$377	$1049
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$318	$701
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$790	$2124
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$627	$1286
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.9	$130
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$199
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.5	$28.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.55%	4.16%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1031	$7056
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$684	$3427
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.62	$1.57
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72	$36.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.35	$16.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.28	$1.87
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.61
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$1.71
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$2.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$4.06
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$11.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.12	$17.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$2.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$2.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.95
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$2.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.65
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.72
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.29
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$2.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.96	$6.12
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.25	$1.68
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.97	$6.92
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.59	$8.06
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$4.17
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.88	$2.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.42	$2.83
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.2	$51.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.2	$10.3
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$27.8	$112
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.55	$20.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$48.5	$71.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.8	$85.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$214	$502
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5271	$9864

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 Rome

Distance	City	Cost of living
2.7 km or 1.7 mi	Vatican City	$964
19 km or 12 mi	Frascati	$1562
34 km or 21 mi	Ladispoli	$1504
44 km or 27 mi	Cisterna di Latina	$1324
47 km or 29 mi	Colleferro	$1270
51 km or 32 mi	Anzio	$1289
59 km or 37 mi	Latina	$1250
61 km or 38 mi	Civitavecchia	$1543
65 km or 40 mi	Rieti	$1224
66 km or 41 mi	Viterbo	$1287
76 km or 47 mi	Terni	$1004
78 km or 48 mi	Frosinone	$1046
80 km or 49 mi	Avezzano	$1058
91 km or 56 mi	L'Aquila	$1208
93 km or 58 mi	Terracina	$1340
120 km or 74 mi	Foligno	$1241
132 km or 82 mi	Teramo	$1171
136 km or 84 mi	Perugia	$1100
140 km or 87 mi	Ascoli Piceno	$1128
148 km or 92 mi	Chieti	$1294
156 km or 97 mi	Pescara	$1312
170 km or 106 mi	Aversa	$1101
173 km or 107 mi	Santa Maria Capua Vetere	$1074
174 km or 108 mi	Fermo	$1239
175 km or 109 mi	Macerata	$1133
178 km or 111 mi	Giugliano in Campania	$1231
179 km or 112 mi	Caserta	$1181
181 km or 113 mi	Arezzo	$1267
183 km or 114 mi	Frattamaggiore	$1218
184 km or 115 mi	Siena	$1518
185 km or 115 mi	Campobasso	$955
187 km or 116 mi	Civitanova Marche	$1204
189 km or 117 mi	Naples	$1396
209 km or 130 mi	Ancona	$1270
210 km or 130 mi	Benevento	$1165
213 km or 133 mi	Castellammare di Stabia	$1301
221 km or 137 mi	Avellino	$1061
221 km or 137 mi	Fano	$1229
226 km or 140 mi	Amalfi	$1521
227 km or 141 mi	San Marino City	$1201