Johannesburg vs Sofia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Johannesburg	Sofia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$993	$1037
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2403	$2570
🏠 One person rent	$441	$499
🏘️ Family rent	$809	$871
🍽️ Food expenses	$288	$357
🚐 Transport expenses	$181	$79.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1383	$1394
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	72	70
😀 Quality of life	57	78
🏙️ Population	4.43M	1.4M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 4% less expensive than in Sofia. Cities ranked 5539th and 5261st ($993 vs $1037) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 1st in South Africa and Bulgaria, respectively. Check South Africa vs Bulgaria comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Johannesburg compared to 1.3 months in Sofia. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Sofia ranked 1st in Bulgaria, while ranked 5667th and 723rd 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 Sofia infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Sofia

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

	Johannesburg	Sofia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.65	$9.19
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$37.9	$42.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.9	$8.07
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$2.53
☕ Cappuccino	$2.01	$2.48
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.99	$1.59
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$377	$500
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$318	$376
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$790	$979
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$627	$663
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.9	$85.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$132
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.5	$12.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.55%	3.16%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1031	$3192
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$684	$2153
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.62	$0.87
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72	$25.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.35	$7.59
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.28	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$1.75
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$0.94
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$3.7
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$8.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.12	$12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$2.44
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.98
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$1.46
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.96	$7.58
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.25	$1.04
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.97	$3.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.59	$9.3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$3.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.88	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.42	$2.55
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.2	$33.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.2	$7.97
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$27.8	$39.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.55	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$48.5	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.8	$99.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$214	$538
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5271	$6749

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 Sofia

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Pernik	$682
59 km or 37 mi	Vratsa	$687
77 km or 48 mi	Blagoevgrad	$576
97 km or 60 mi	Bansko	$866
100 km or 62 mi	Pazardzhik	$667
132 km or 82 mi	Pleven	$594
132 km or 82 mi	Plovdiv	$734
135 km or 84 mi	Nis	$711
142 km or 88 mi	Stip	$561
146 km or 91 mi	Kumanovo	$588
148 km or 92 mi	Vidin	$605
149 km or 92 mi	Asenovgrad	$616
151 km or 94 mi	Strumica	$612
164 km or 102 mi	Gabrovo	$598
168 km or 104 mi	Veles	$545
175 km or 108 mi	Skopje	$772
176 km or 110 mi	Pristina	$595
178 km or 110 mi	Kavadarci	$556
180 km or 112 mi	Serres	$988
185 km or 115 mi	Drama	$891
186 km or 116 mi	Craiova	$848
191 km or 119 mi	Stara Zagora	$646
193 km or 120 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$731
202 km or 125 mi	Mitrovica	$463
202 km or 126 mi	Haskovo	$619
208 km or 129 mi	Tetovo	$682
210 km or 130 mi	Prilep	$537
210 km or 131 mi	Slatina	$623
215 km or 134 mi	Kavala	$930
215 km or 134 mi	Alexandria	$629
217 km or 135 mi	Xanthi	$948
222 km or 138 mi	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	$663
224 km or 139 mi	Giannitsa	$1028
232 km or 144 mi	Thessaloniki	$1106
234 km or 145 mi	Novi Pazar	$662
242 km or 150 mi	Kragujevac	$807
245 km or 152 mi	Sliven	$631
246 km or 153 mi	Komotini	$899
248 km or 154 mi	Bitola	$635
248 km or 154 mi	Ruse	$633