Los Angeles vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Los Angeles	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3196	$923
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7594	$1686
🏠 One person rent	$2049	$540
🏘️ Family rent	$3732	$553
🍽️ Food expenses	$709	$231
🚐 Transport expenses	$220	$88.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4771	$1598
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	17 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	99	63
😀 Quality of life	93	38
🏙️ Population	3.9M	1.27M

The cost of living in Los Angeles is 246% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 80th and 5917th ($3196 vs $923) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 71st and 6th in the United States and South Africa, respectively. Check the United States vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Los Angeles compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Los Angeles ranked 7th best city to live in the United States vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 58th 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 Los Angeles vs Soweto infographic

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

Prices in Los Angeles vs Soweto

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

	Los Angeles	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.7	$6.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$87.7	$26.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.9	$3.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.51	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$5.77	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.7	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2168	$827
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1758	$346
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4056	$511
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3293	$396
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$142	$64.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$220	$100
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$66.8	$33.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.74%	11.66%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8056	$850
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7115	$691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.01	$1.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$73.5	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.8	$8.52
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.29	$1.02
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.1	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.56	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.05	$2.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.5	$4.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.5	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.12	$1.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.43	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.31	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.63	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.56	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.26	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.4	$7.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.92	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$11.7	$2.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$2.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.25	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.63	$0.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.3	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$18.1	$5.71
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$190	$21.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$27.8	$3
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.3	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1650	$200
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$28838	$3805

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Los Angeles

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Huntington Park	$2887
8.9 km or 5.5 mi	Maywood	$2803
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Florence-Graham	$2873
10 km or 6.2 mi	Bell	$2798
10 km or 6.2 mi	Monterey Park	$2735
11 km or 6.6 mi	Alhambra	$2936
11 km or 6.6 mi	South Pasadena	$2902
11 km or 7 mi	Cudahy	$2768
12 km or 7.6 mi	San Gabriel	$3061
12 km or 7.7 mi	Bell Gardens	$2727
12 km or 7.8 mi	West Hollywood	$3105
13 km or 7.8 mi	Montebello	$2739
13 km or 8 mi	South Gate	$2786
13 km or 8.2 mi	Glendale	$3659
14 km or 8.8 mi	Inglewood	$3014
15 km or 9 mi	Beverly Hills	$2903
15 km or 9.1 mi	Lynwood	$2788
15 km or 9.3 mi	Rosemead	$2780
15 km or 9.5 mi	Culver	$3033
15 km or 9.6 mi	Pasadena	$3416
16 km or 9.9 mi	Pico Rivera	$2750
16 km or 10 mi	Burbank	$3370
16 km or 10 mi	Downey	$2735
17 km or 11 mi	Compton	$2851
18 km or 11 mi	La Canada Flintridge	$3086
18 km or 11 mi	Hawthorne	$3104
18 km or 11 mi	Temple	$2824
18 km or 11 mi	South El Monte	$2787
18 km or 11 mi	West Whittier-Los Nietos	$2750
18 km or 11 mi	Paramount	$2720
19 km or 12 mi	Gardena	$3022
20 km or 12 mi	El Monte	$2775
21 km or 13 mi	Lawndale	$3162
21 km or 13 mi	Arcadia	$2758
21 km or 13 mi	Bellflower	$2669
22 km or 14 mi	Norwalk	$2662
22 km or 14 mi	Santa Monica	$3573
22 km or 14 mi	Whittier	$2789
23 km or 15 mi	Manhattan Beach	$3256
24 km or 15 mi	Carson	$2919

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