Johannesburg vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Johannesburg	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$908	$1190
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2207	$3757
🏠 One person rent	$403	$635
🏘️ Family rent	$738	$1613
🍽️ Food expenses	$254	$308
🚐 Transport expenses	$173	$117
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1428	$1455
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	72	100
😀 Quality of life	61	78
🏙️ Population	4.43M	24.9M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 24% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 5921st and 4461st ($908 vs $1190) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in South Africa and China, respectively. Check South Africa vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Johannesburg compared to 1.2 months in Shanghai. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 5184th and 558th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Shanghai

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

	Johannesburg	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.41	$4.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$35.4	$40.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.44	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.09	$1.7
☕ Cappuccino	$1.82	$3.83
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.98	$0.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$350	$901
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$277	$497
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$667	$2595
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$564	$1269
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.1	$39.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$114	$60.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.6	$17.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.12%	4.77%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$840	$17366
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$689	$9346
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.78	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$66	$37.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.26	$6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.09	$2.55
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.9	$2.02
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.47
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.11	$2.21
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.94	$18.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.54	$4.12
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.88	$12.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$2.27
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.27	$1.97
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$0.96
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.43	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.54	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.36	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.33	$14.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.16	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.88	$3.45
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.76	$6.43
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.7	$7.06
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.91	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.11	$2
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$31.4	$69.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.28	$8.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$27.3	$89.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.37	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$45	$66.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$83.7	$78.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$232	$1283
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4829	$28143

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	$889
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$776
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$875
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$741
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$631
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$755
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$783
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$637
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$698
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$751
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$845
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$625
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$746
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$866
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$621
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$701
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$682
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$719
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$631
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$656
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$511
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$633
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$558
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$739
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$603
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$511
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$447
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$535
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$605
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$601
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$511
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$511
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$753
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$609
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$978
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$554
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1084
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$780
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$550
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$952

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1074
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$731
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$771
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$763
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$682
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$731
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$651
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$678
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$687
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$699
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$688
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$690
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$677
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$675
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$755
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$707
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$713
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$682
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$831
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$679
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$694
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$625
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$707
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$625
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$703
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$524
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$631
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$645
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$720
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$725
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$696
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$719
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$789
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$652
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$740