Johannesburg vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Johannesburg	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1079	$387
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2553	$1009
🏠 One person rent	$487	$122
🏘️ Family rent	$837	$227
🍽️ Food expenses	$302	$177
🚐 Transport expenses	$204	$32.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1695	$570
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	72	5
😀 Quality of life	58	50
🏙️ Population	4.43M	115K

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 179% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 5069th and 9013th ($1079 vs $387) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd in South Africa and Bhutan, respectively. Check South Africa vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Johannesburg compared to 1.5 months in Thimphu. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 5446th and 6232nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Thimphu infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Thimphu

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

	Johannesburg	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.91	$2.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$40.5	$16.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.08	$3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.31	$6.45
☕ Cappuccino	$2.04	$1.54
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.01	$0.56
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$405	$119
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$361	$65.3
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$781	$222
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$657	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.2	$13.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$111	$21.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$44.3	$32.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.54%	9.56%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1096	$625
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$753	$869
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.89	$1.52
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$81.8	$4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.6	$15.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.37	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.21	$0.85
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1	$0.97
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.74
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.66	$2.25
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$3.43
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.16	$3.93
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.49	$4.33
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$2.39
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$1.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$0.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$0.51
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$0.57
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.22
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.51	$1.07
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.14	$3.55
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.36	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$3.92
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$1.64
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.18	$3.7
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2	$1.27
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.53	$0.66
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.1	$49.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.67	$3.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.8	$29.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.42	$3.33
👖 Brand Jeans	$51.5	$33.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.2	$32.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$241	$251
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5865	$691

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 Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$455
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$314
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$298
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$293
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$930
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$331
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$312
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$370
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$339
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$359
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$311
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$997
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$303
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$282
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$390
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$311
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$256
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$297
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$268
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$279
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$296
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$321
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$309
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$271
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$290
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$443
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$350
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$428
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$380
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$301
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$294
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$311
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$294
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$335
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$290
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$307
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$356
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$288
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$273
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$284