Johannesburg vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Johannesburg	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1204	$412
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2788	$998
🏠 One person rent	$547	$158
🏘️ Family rent	$919	$234
🍽️ Food expenses	$351	$164
🚐 Transport expenses	$210	$36.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$420	$351
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	73	5
😀 Quality of life	60	43
🏙️ Population	4.8M	115K

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 193% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 4745th and 8941st ($1204 vs $412) 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 0.3 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.9 months in Thimphu. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 5850th and 7454th among best cities to live in the world.

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/johannesburg/thimphu.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Thimphu infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/johannesburg/thimphu" target="_blank">Johannesburg vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

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	$12.2	$2.59
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46	$14.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.16	$3.87
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.44	$2.12
☕ Cappuccino	$2.41	$1.7
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.2	$0.47
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$473	$166
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$385	$107
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$862	$234
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$679	$172
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$106	$19.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$164	$29.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.8	$19.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.88%	10.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1060	$657
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$777	$762
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.85	$1.4
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$92.2	$11.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.38	$17.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.42	$0.71
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$0.77
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.24	$0.66
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$0.66
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.48	$1.72
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.99	$4.75
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.77	$4.07
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.11	$3.93
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$2.14
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.43
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$0.72
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$0.49
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$0.64
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.58	$0.97
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.1	$5.41
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.89	$0.58
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.4	$3.41
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.66	$1.44
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.33	$3.27
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.25	$1.13
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$0.57
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.8	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.59	$2.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$31	$26.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.27	$2.96
👖 Brand Jeans	$57.1	$29.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$48.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$244	$263
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5103	$600

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	$1104
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$912
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$1031
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$851
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$784
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$997
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$1015
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$742
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$950
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$994
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$902
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$875
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$872
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$811
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$903
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$691
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$723
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$691
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$607
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$882
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$663
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$494
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$660
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$615
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$611
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$549
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$904
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$912
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$590
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1014
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$938
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$632
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$965

Cities near Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$437
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$282
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$307
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$320
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$960
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$303
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$287
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$325
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$303
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$321
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$288
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$1034
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$270
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$297
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$336
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$289
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$278
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$264
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$245
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$289
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$327
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$287
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$288
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$357
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$329
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$424
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$336
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$478
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$342
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$348
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$263
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$288
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$272
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$317
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$326
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$285
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$293
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$272
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$268
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$274