Johannesburg vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Johannesburg	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1082	$420
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2560	$1031
🏠 One person rent	$485	$152
🏘️ Family rent	$833	$236
🍽️ Food expenses	$306	$174
🚐 Transport expenses	$206	$39.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1614	$544
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	74	5
😀 Quality of life	62	42
🏙️ Population	4.43M	115K

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 158% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 5031st and 8940th ($1082 vs $420) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th 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 1.5 months in Johannesburg compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 5648th and 7547th 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	$10.1	$2.79
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.1	$17.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.03	$4.17
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.51	$2.28
☕ Cappuccino	$2.18	$1.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.08	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$462	$168
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$342	$101
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$824	$255
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$632	$171
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.5	$17.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$122	$26.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.5	$20.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.57%	10.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1106	$600
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$741	$947
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.21	$1.71
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$77.1	$11.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.7	$18.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.32	$0.77
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$0.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.01	$0.75
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.61
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.6	$1.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$4.81
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.34	$4.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.4	$4.17
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$2.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$1.46
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$0.73
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$0.58
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$1.03
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.13	$5.99
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$0.67
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$3.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.86	$1.55
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$3.54
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.98	$1.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$0.62
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.6	$38.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.33	$3.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.7	$27.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.46	$3.19
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.2	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.1	$43.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$227	$235
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5503	$653

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 Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$450
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$297
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$308
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$311
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$918
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$316
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$298
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$348
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$321
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$338
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$297
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$981
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$284
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$287
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$354
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$297
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$282
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$281
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$257
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$274
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$321
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$293
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$294
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$352
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$332
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$427
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$350
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$464
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$362
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$348
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$284
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$293
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$272
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$328
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$300
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$286
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$320
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$289
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$286
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$289