Johannesburg vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Johannesburg	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1079	$1012
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2553	$2565
🏠 One person rent	$487	$481
🏘️ Family rent	$837	$852
🍽️ Food expenses	$302	$285
🚐 Transport expenses	$204	$145
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1695	$477
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	72	95
😀 Quality of life	58	63
🏙️ Population	4.43M	11.5M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 7% more expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 5069th and 5616th ($1079 vs $1012) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in South Africa and Brazil, respectively. Check South Africa vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.5 months in Sao Paulo. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Sao Paulo ranked 2nd in Brazil, while ranked 5446th and 4573rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Sao Paulo infographic

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

Prices in Johannesburg vs Sao Paulo

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

	Johannesburg	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.91	$6.82
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$40.5	$38.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.08	$7.22
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.31	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$2.04	$2.19
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.01	$1.13
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$405	$574
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$361	$371
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$781	$1002
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$657	$694
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.2	$50.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$111	$77.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$44.3	$19.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.54%	10.91%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1096	$2416
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$753	$1687
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.89	$0.93
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$81.8	$47.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.6	$8.27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.37	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.21	$1
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1	$1.4
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.66	$2.48
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.16	$4.11
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.49	$7.71
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$2.41
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.86
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$1.36
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.74
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.57
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.45
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.49
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.51	$1.83
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.14	$8.17
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.36	$1.24
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$2.23
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$4.84
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.18	$3.35
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.53	$0.98
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.1	$24.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.67	$7.65
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.8	$57.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.42	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$51.5	$51.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.2	$84.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$241	$482
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5865	$13135

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	$997
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$874
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$971
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$822
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$696
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$838
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$909
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$717
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$848
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$943
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$819
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$841
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$788
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$774
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$809
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$692
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$718
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$690
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$623
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$791
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$654
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$459
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$627
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$663
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$581
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$554
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$859
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$1003
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$600
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1116
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$834
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$585
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$1045

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$716
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$665
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$691
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$674
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$644
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$686
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$657
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$573
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$663
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$640
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$627
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$738
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$640
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$639
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$643
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$640
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$639
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$631
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$633
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$621
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$656
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$606
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$647
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$645
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$641
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$679
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$636
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$639
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$661
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$674
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$640
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$698
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$742
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$595
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$630
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$653
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$746
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$650
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$638
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$629