Johannesburg vs Surat - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Johannesburg	Surat
🚶 Cost of living one person	$993	$771
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2403	$1163
🏠 One person rent	$441	$519
🏘️ Family rent	$809	$463
🍽️ Food expenses	$288	$166
🚐 Transport expenses	$181	$44.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1383	$444
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	72	40
😀 Quality of life	57	48
🏙️ Population	4.43M	5.94M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 29% more expensive than in Surat. Cities ranked 5539th and 6559th ($993 vs $771) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 1st in South Africa and India, respectively. Check South Africa vs India comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.6 months in Surat. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Surat ranked 48th in India, while ranked 5667th and 6336th 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 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	$9.65	$3.46
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$37.9	$11.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.9	$3.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.37	$2.87
☕ Cappuccino	$2.01	$1.74
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.99	$0.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$377	$454
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$318	$498
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$790	$1021
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$627	$271
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.9	$22.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$34.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.5	$7.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.55%	8.88%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1031	$864
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$684	$637
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.62	$0.23
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72	$5.71
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.35	$2.06
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.28	$1.14
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$0.74
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$0.55
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$0.73
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$0.99
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$4.86
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$3.38
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.12	$8.57
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.51
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$0.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.94
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$0.67
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$0.35
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.42
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.23
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$0.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.96	$8.53
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.25	$2.77
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.97	$3.85
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.59	$2.06
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$3.1
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.88	$0.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.42	$0.61
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.2	$18.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.2	$2.87
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$27.8	$13.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.55	$2.39
👖 Brand Jeans	$48.5	$25.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.8	$46.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$214	$49.8
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5271	$1261

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 Surat

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Navsari	$286
98 km or 61 mi	Bhavnagar	$298
131 km or 82 mi	Vadodara	$376
164 km or 102 mi	Nashik	$333
170 km or 106 mi	Nadiad	$382
189 km or 117 mi	Vasai	$284
192 km or 119 mi	Malegaon	$378
196 km or 122 mi	Godhra	$371
208 km or 130 mi	Ahmedabad	$452
209 km or 130 mi	Bhiwandi	$362
216 km or 134 mi	Kalyan	$381
222 km or 138 mi	Thane	$501
228 km or 142 mi	Gandhinagar	$415
239 km or 148 mi	Navi Mumbai	$480
244 km or 152 mi	Rajkot	$311
245 km or 152 mi	Mumbai	$716
274 km or 170 mi	Mehsana	$389
284 km or 177 mi	Jalgaon	$348
296 km or 184 mi	Aurangabad	$350
314 km or 195 mi	Pune	$513
332 km or 206 mi	Ratlam	$311
338 km or 210 mi	Porbandar	$333
356 km or 221 mi	Indore	$367
377 km or 234 mi	Ujjain	$298
389 km or 242 mi	Udaipur	$310
399 km or 248 mi	Bhuj	$288
406 km or 252 mi	Satara	$304
436 km or 271 mi	Akola	$295
499 km or 310 mi	Latur	$397
500 km or 311 mi	Bhilwara	$340
505 km or 314 mi	Solapur	$293
511 km or 318 mi	Amravati	$296
512 km or 318 mi	Sangli	$292
514 km or 320 mi	Pali	$324
518 km or 322 mi	Kolhapur	$307
521 km or 324 mi	Nanded	$315
526 km or 327 mi	Bhopal	$363
526 km or 327 mi	Ichalkaranji	$304
541 km or 336 mi	Kota	$339
570 km or 354 mi	Bijapur	$340