Johannesburg vs Seattle - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Johannesburg	Seattle
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1079	$2908
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2553	$7212
🏠 One person rent	$487	$1829
🏘️ Family rent	$837	$3413
🍽️ Food expenses	$302	$707
🚐 Transport expenses	$204	$161
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1695	$6392
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	72	80
😀 Quality of life	58	92
🏙️ Population	4.43M	737K

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 63% less expensive than in Seattle. Cities ranked 5069th and 206th ($1079 vs $2908) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 168th 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 1.6 months in Johannesburg compared to 2.2 months in Seattle. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Seattle ranked 16th in the United States, while ranked 5446th and 102nd 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 Seattle infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Seattle

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

	Johannesburg	Seattle
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.91	$19.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$40.5	$89.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.08	$12.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.31	$8.02
☕ Cappuccino	$2.04	$5.61
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.01	$3.13
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$405	$1947
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$361	$1538
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$781	$3856
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$657	$2943
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.2	$142
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$111	$220
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$44.3	$67.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.54%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1096	$7855
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$753	$5704
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.89	$2.77
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$81.8	$97.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.6	$18
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.37	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.21	$1.17
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1	$3.71
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$4.4
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.66	$4.47
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$17.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.16	$13.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.49	$20.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$4.95
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.82
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$4.93
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$5.33
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$2.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$3.32
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$1.63
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.51	$3.04
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.14	$15.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.36	$2.79
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$12.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.18	$5.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2	$6.97
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.53	$2.46
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.1	$63.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.67	$16.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.8	$183
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.42	$25.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$51.5	$67.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.2	$94.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$241	$2227
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5865	$28179

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 Seattle

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.1 km or 5.7 mi	Mercer Island	$2759
11 km or 6.5 mi	Bellevue	$3179
14 km or 8.5 mi	Kirkland	$2901
15 km or 9.2 mi	Tukwila	$2542
15 km or 9.5 mi	Burien	$2512
16 km or 10 mi	Bainbridge Island	$2904
17 km or 10 mi	Shoreline	$3091
17 km or 10 mi	Renton	$2301
17 km or 11 mi	Redmond	$3229
17 km or 11 mi	Kenmore	$2784
19 km or 12 mi	SeaTac	$2489
21 km or 13 mi	Bothell	$2866
22 km or 14 mi	Sammamish	$2743
22 km or 14 mi	Edmonds	$2821
23 km or 14 mi	Issaquah	$2655
24 km or 15 mi	Des Moines	$2512
24 km or 15 mi	Lynnwood	$2769
24 km or 15 mi	Bremerton	$2491
26 km or 16 mi	Kent	$2819
30 km or 19 mi	Mill Creek	$2692
33 km or 20 mi	Federal Way	$2449
34 km or 21 mi	Maple Valley	$2515
35 km or 21 mi	Mukilteo	$2619
35 km or 22 mi	Auburn	$2172
41 km or 25 mi	Everett	$2569
42 km or 26 mi	Tacoma	$2348
46 km or 28 mi	University Place	$2655
48 km or 30 mi	Puyallup	$2774
50 km or 31 mi	Lake Stevens	$2581
51 km or 32 mi	Lakewood	$2417
52 km or 33 mi	Marysville	$2576
57 km or 35 mi	Spanaway	$2307
74 km or 46 mi	Lacey	$2534
76 km or 47 mi	Olympia	$2435
78 km or 48 mi	Sequim	$2609
80 km or 50 mi	Oak Harbor	$2612
90 km or 56 mi	Mount Vernon	$2314
100 km or 62 mi	Port Angeles	$2546
109 km or 68 mi	Centralia	$2577
119 km or 74 mi	Victoria	$2263