Johannesburg vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Johannesburg	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1082	$870
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2560	$2091
🏠 One person rent	$485	$430
🏘️ Family rent	$833	$764
🍽️ Food expenses	$306	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$206	$43.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1614	$516
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	74	43
😀 Quality of life	62	61
🏙️ Population	4.43M	1.4M

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 24% more expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 5031st and 6373rd ($1082 vs $870) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 1st in South Africa and Mongolia, respectively. Check South Africa vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.6 months in Ulaanbaatar. Johannesburg ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 5648th and 5856th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Ulaanbaatar infographic

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

Prices in Johannesburg vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	Johannesburg	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.1	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.1	$29.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.03	$5.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.51	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$2.18	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.08	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$462	$417
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$342	$358
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$824	$769
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$632	$656
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.5	$46
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$122	$70.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.5	$14.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.57%	6.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1106	$1651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$741	$881
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.21	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$77.1	$8.29
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.7	$4.98
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.32	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.01	$0.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.6	$2.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$11.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.34	$5.88
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.4	$5.32
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$2.98
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$2.22
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$4.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$2.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$0.66
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.53	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.13	$9.25
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$1.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$1.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.86	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$3.61
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.98	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$1.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.6	$70
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.33	$3.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.7	$19
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.46	$4.85
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.2	$81.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.1	$97.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$227	$167
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5503	$6621

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 Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$838
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$676
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$735
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$725
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$912
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$631
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$986
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$677
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$659
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$541
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$629
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1365
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$655
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$638
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$642
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$518
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$785
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$748
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$614
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$654
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$580
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$548
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$600
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$564
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$563
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$589
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$480
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$546
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$484
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$615
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$470
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$553
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$411
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$694
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$532
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$597
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1029
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$439
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$600