Lahore vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Lahore	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$411	$923
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1052	$1686
🏠 One person rent	$163	$540
🏘️ Family rent	$338	$553
🍽️ Food expenses	$142	$231
🚐 Transport expenses	$57.1	$88.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$179	$1598
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	69	63
😀 Quality of life	46	38
🏙️ Population	11.1M	1.27M

The cost of living in Lahore is 55% less expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 8934th and 5917th ($411 vs $923) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 6th in Pakistan and South Africa, respectively. Check Pakistan vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Lahore compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Lahore ranked 3rd best city to live in Pakistan vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 6486th and 7204th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Lahore vs Soweto infographic

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Prices in Lahore vs Soweto

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

	Lahore	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.06	$6.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$16	$26.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.31	$3.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.84	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$2.09	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.35	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$102	$827
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$65.8	$346
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$289	$511
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$187	$396
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$74.1	$64.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$115	$100
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$15.9	$33.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	19.71%	11.66%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$626	$850
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$587	$691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.18	$1.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$5.75	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.76	$8.52
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.95	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.88	$1.02
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.65	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.2	$2.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.92	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.6	$4.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.91	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.59	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.62	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.53	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.35	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.57	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.25	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.73	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$0.7	$7.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.55	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.97	$2.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.04	$2.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.27	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.01	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.84	$0.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$13	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.36	$5.71
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$13	$21.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.47	$3
👖 Brand Jeans	$15	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$71.3	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$37.1	$200
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1172	$3805

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Lahore

Distance	City	Cost of living
37 km or 23 mi	Sheikhupura	$374
49 km or 30 mi	Amritsar	$383
49 km or 30 mi	Kamoke	$321
68 km or 43 mi	Gujranwala	$308
85 km or 53 mi	Hafizabad	$380
107 km or 67 mi	Sialkot	$281
117 km or 72 mi	Gujrat	$373
118 km or 73 mi	Okara	$300
120 km or 74 mi	Jalandhar	$358
120 km or 75 mi	Sahiwal	$305
121 km or 75 mi	Faisalabad	$306
130 km or 81 mi	Chiniot	$389
140 km or 87 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$355
140 km or 87 mi	Jammu	$287
147 km or 91 mi	Pathankot	$355
160 km or 99 mi	Ludhiana	$441
164 km or 102 mi	Gojra	$342
169 km or 105 mi	Sargodha	$458
185 km or 115 mi	Mirpur	$354
195 km or 121 mi	Jhang	$292
222 km or 138 mi	Burewala	$356
244 km or 152 mi	Patiala	$365
250 km or 155 mi	Chandigarh	$369
257 km or 160 mi	Rawalpindi	$401
268 km or 167 mi	Islamabad	$442
269 km or 167 mi	Khanewal	$361
273 km or 170 mi	Shimla	$272
286 km or 178 mi	Srinagar	$354
294 km or 183 mi	Wah	$382
295 km or 183 mi	Baramulla	$273
299 km or 186 mi	Hisar	$251
317 km or 197 mi	Multan	$392
351 km or 218 mi	Bahawalpur	$342
352 km or 219 mi	Bhiwani	$321
353 km or 219 mi	Saharanpur	$283
354 km or 220 mi	Kohat	$379
364 km or 226 mi	Rohtak	$265
366 km or 227 mi	Mardan	$366
377 km or 234 mi	Dehradun	$372
381 km or 237 mi	Peshawar	$346

Cities near Soweto

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Johannesburg	$993
24 km or 15 mi	Randburg	$837
26 km or 16 mi	Sandton	$953
46 km or 28 mi	Vereeniging	$672
46 km or 29 mi	Benoni	$785
48 km or 30 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
56 km or 34 mi	Centurion	$807
58 km or 36 mi	Springs	$678
66 km or 41 mi	Pretoria	$906
73 km or 45 mi	Brits	$820
91 km or 56 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
92 km or 57 mi	Rustenburg	$889
137 km or 85 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
159 km or 99 mi	Bethal	$784
166 km or 103 mi	Kroonstad	$768
170 km or 106 mi	Middelburg	$795
222 km or 138 mi	Welkom	$748
228 km or 142 mi	Mmabatho	$780
249 km or 155 mi	Lobatse	$665
266 km or 165 mi	Gaborone	$691
282 km or 175 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
290 km or 180 mi	Kanye	$664
315 km or 196 mi	Molepolole	$628
321 km or 199 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
329 km or 204 mi	Mbabane	$562
335 km or 208 mi	Vryheid	$763
341 km or 212 mi	Maseru	$621
350 km or 217 mi	Manzini	$442
354 km or 220 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
367 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$631
399 km or 248 mi	Mafeteng	$567
412 km or 256 mi	Kimberley	$814
420 km or 261 mi	Palapye	$540
446 km or 277 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
447 km or 278 mi	Serowe	$583
461 km or 286 mi	Matola	$964
472 km or 293 mi	Maputo	$1068
506 km or 314 mi	Durban	$809
567 km or 353 mi	Francistown	$624
595 km or 370 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003