Johannesburg vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Johannesburg	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$993	$3428
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2403	$7974
🏠 One person rent	$441	$2311
🏘️ Family rent	$809	$4175
🍽️ Food expenses	$288	$743
🚐 Transport expenses	$181	$180
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1383	$5531
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	72	87
😀 Quality of life	57	91
🏙️ Population	4.43M	1.39M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 71% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 5539th and 36th ($993 vs $3428) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 32nd in South Africa and the United States, respectively. Check South Africa vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Johannesburg compared to 1.6 months in San Diego. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs San Diego ranked 13th in the United States, while ranked 5667th and 95th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Johannesburg vs San Diego infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/johannesburg/san-diego.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Johannesburg vs San Diego infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/johannesburg/san-diego" target="_blank">Johannesburg vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Johannesburg vs San Diego

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

	Johannesburg	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.65	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$37.9	$83.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.9	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.01	$6.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.99	$2.96
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$377	$2424
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$318	$1978
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$790	$4583
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$627	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.9	$177
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$269
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.5	$66.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.55%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1031	$9086
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$684	$7072
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.62	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72	$72.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.35	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.28	$1.33
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$3.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$4.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$5.2
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$15.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.12	$18.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$4.75
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$4.32
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$4.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$2.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$2.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$1.69
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$3.7
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.96	$17.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.25	$2.85
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.97	$12.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.59	$17.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$13.1
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.88	$5.87
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.42	$2.99
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.2	$75
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.2	$17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$27.8	$130
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.55	$31.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$48.5	$59.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.8	$98.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$214	$1785
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5271	$28706

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 San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3065
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$2962
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2914
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$3017
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2916
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2911
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2964
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3043
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1047
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2898
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2930
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3124
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$912
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$910
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3279
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2917
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3273
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2834
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3199
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2907
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2637
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2945
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3109
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$2936
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2732
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$2950
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2763
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3188
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$2996
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2578
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$880
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2694
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3496
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3082
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2971
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3326
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$3020
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2764
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2682
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2759