Johannesburg vs Surat - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Johannesburg	Surat
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1082	$705
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2560	$990
🏠 One person rent	$485	$458
🏘️ Family rent	$833	$305
🍽️ Food expenses	$306	$161
🚐 Transport expenses	$206	$45.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1614	$271
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	74	40
😀 Quality of life	62	55
🏙️ Population	4.43M	5.94M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 54% more expensive than in Surat. Cities ranked 5031st and 7068th ($1082 vs $705) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in South Africa and India, respectively. Check South Africa vs India comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.4 months in Surat. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Surat ranked 45th in India, while ranked 5648th and 6284th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Surat infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Surat

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

	Johannesburg	Surat
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.1	$3.24
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.1	$11.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.03	$3.38
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.51	$3.41
☕ Cappuccino	$2.18	$1.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.08	$0.49
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$462	$215
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$342	$484
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$824	$390
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$632	$234
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.5	$20.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$122	$31.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.5	$7.65
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.57%	9.18%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1106	$822
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$741	$576
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.21	$0.23
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$77.1	$5.63
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.7	$2.24
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.32	$1.14
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$0.75
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.01	$0.58
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.6	$0.99
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$4.66
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.34	$2.87
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.4	$8.04
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.65
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$0.79
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$0.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$0.64
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$0.47
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.22
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$0.96
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.13	$8.27
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$2.51
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$3.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.86	$2.01
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$3.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.98	$0.87
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$0.58
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.6	$18.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.33	$3.09
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.7	$14.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.46	$2.36
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.2	$24.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.1	$42.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$227	$59.8
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5503	$922

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	$984
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$890
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$984
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$826
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$740
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$892
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$975
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$706
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$875
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$940
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$838
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$830
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$808
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$762
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$833
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$637
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$668
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$637
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$599
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$827
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$607
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$469
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$650
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$577
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$598
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$514
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$861
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$908
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$536
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$915
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$892
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$587
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$915

Cities near Surat

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Navsari	$278
98 km or 61 mi	Bhavnagar	$291
131 km or 82 mi	Vadodara	$374
164 km or 102 mi	Nashik	$350
170 km or 106 mi	Nadiad	$375
189 km or 117 mi	Vasai	$267
192 km or 119 mi	Malegaon	$382
196 km or 122 mi	Godhra	$366
208 km or 130 mi	Ahmedabad	$442
209 km or 130 mi	Bhiwandi	$363
216 km or 134 mi	Kalyan	$399
222 km or 138 mi	Thane	$487
228 km or 142 mi	Gandhinagar	$407
239 km or 148 mi	Navi Mumbai	$503
244 km or 152 mi	Rajkot	$324
245 km or 152 mi	Mumbai	$705
274 km or 170 mi	Mehsana	$382
284 km or 177 mi	Jalgaon	$303
296 km or 184 mi	Aurangabad	$349
314 km or 195 mi	Pune	$517
332 km or 206 mi	Ratlam	$303
338 km or 210 mi	Porbandar	$330
356 km or 221 mi	Indore	$361
377 km or 234 mi	Ujjain	$264
389 km or 242 mi	Udaipur	$315
399 km or 248 mi	Bhuj	$290
406 km or 252 mi	Satara	$273
436 km or 271 mi	Akola	$297
499 km or 310 mi	Latur	$396
500 km or 311 mi	Bhilwara	$328
505 km or 314 mi	Solapur	$285
511 km or 318 mi	Amravati	$310
512 km or 318 mi	Sangli	$290
514 km or 320 mi	Pali	$305
518 km or 322 mi	Kolhapur	$309
521 km or 324 mi	Nanded	$328
526 km or 327 mi	Bhopal	$366
526 km or 327 mi	Ichalkaranji	$302
541 km or 336 mi	Kota	$333
570 km or 354 mi	Bijapur	$333