Male vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Male	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1320	$984
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2817	$1812
🏠 One person rent	$818	$567
🏘️ Family rent	$1403	$581
🍽️ Food expenses	$368	$247
🚐 Transport expenses	$43.1	$104
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$988	$1672
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	7	63
😀 Quality of life	66	45
🏙️ Population	133K	1.27M

The cost of living in Male is 34% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 4439th and 5704th ($1320 vs $984) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 7th in Maldives and South Africa, respectively. Check Maldives vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Male compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Male ranked 1st best city to live in Maldives vs Soweto ranked 9th in South Africa, while ranked 5057th and 7050th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Male vs Soweto infographic

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

Prices in Male vs Soweto

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

	Male	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.55	$6.53
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$29.4	$28.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.82	$4.24
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.77	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$3.29	$2.14
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.45	$1.07
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$870	$867
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$609	$362
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1575	$538
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1116	$415
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$69.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$114	$108
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$81.2	$33.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14%	11.64%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2585	$907
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1897	$724
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.65	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$29.1	$32.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.5	$11.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.93	$1.2
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.85	$1.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$0.96
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$1.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.78	$2.62
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.08	$8.24
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.15	$4.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.98	$6.66
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.83	$1.56
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.35	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$1.55
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.31
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$1.2
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.35	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.97	$1.21
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.87	$7.85
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.96	$1.65
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13	$2.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.39	$2.99
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.83	$2.57
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.18	$1.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.81	$0.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$80.1	$13.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.82	$6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$23.2	$21.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.39	$3.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.7	$49.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$90.5	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$166	$202
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3575	$3811

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Male

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.4 km or 3.4 mi	Hulhumale	$1445
610 km or 379 mi	Thiruvananthapuram	$344
618 km or 384 mi	Varkala	$308
621 km or 386 mi	Nagercoil	$279
624 km or 388 mi	Kollam	$253
687 km or 427 mi	Tirunelveli	$270
688 km or 428 mi	Kottayam	$300
713 km or 443 mi	Kochi	$382
714 km or 444 mi	Ernakulam	$351
724 km or 450 mi	Thoothukudi	$296
761 km or 473 mi	Beruwala	$590
763 km or 474 mi	Colombo	$646
766 km or 476 mi	Thrissur	$356
771 km or 479 mi	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	$626
772 km or 479 mi	Galle	$512
777 km or 483 mi	Negombo	$469
788 km or 490 mi	Gampaha	$420
803 km or 499 mi	Matara	$479
814 km or 506 mi	Malappuram	$286
817 km or 507 mi	Madurai	$347
825 km or 513 mi	Kozhikode	$321
843 km or 524 mi	Dindigul	$310
849 km or 528 mi	Coimbatore	$326
862 km or 535 mi	Kandy	$440
879 km or 546 mi	Kannur	$317
892 km or 554 mi	Anuradhapura	$535
899 km or 559 mi	Tiruppur	$347
922 km or 573 mi	Erode	$286
935 km or 581 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$300
964 km or 599 mi	Thanjavur	$275
968 km or 602 mi	Mysore	$346
977 km or 607 mi	Salem	$295
979 km or 608 mi	Mangalore	$400
983 km or 611 mi	Trincomalee	$530
1027 km or 638 mi	Udupi	$283
1076 km or 669 mi	Bangalore	$524
1087 km or 675 mi	Cuddalore	$300
1093 km or 679 mi	Tumkur	$355
1106 km or 688 mi	Shimoga	$340
1108 km or 688 mi	Pondicherry	$327

Cities near Soweto

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
24 km or 15 mi	Randburg	$890
26 km or 16 mi	Sandton	$984
46 km or 28 mi	Vereeniging	$706
46 km or 29 mi	Benoni	$826
48 km or 30 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
56 km or 34 mi	Centurion	$892
58 km or 36 mi	Springs	$740
66 km or 41 mi	Pretoria	$975
73 km or 45 mi	Brits	$875
91 km or 56 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
92 km or 57 mi	Rustenburg	$940
137 km or 85 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
159 km or 99 mi	Bethal	$838
166 km or 103 mi	Kroonstad	$808
170 km or 106 mi	Middelburg	$830
222 km or 138 mi	Welkom	$762
228 km or 142 mi	Mmabatho	$833
249 km or 155 mi	Lobatse	$637
266 km or 165 mi	Gaborone	$668
282 km or 175 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
290 km or 180 mi	Kanye	$637
315 km or 196 mi	Molepolole	$607
321 km or 199 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
329 km or 204 mi	Mbabane	$599
335 km or 208 mi	Vryheid	$827
341 km or 212 mi	Maseru	$650
350 km or 217 mi	Manzini	$469
354 km or 220 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
367 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$577
399 km or 248 mi	Mafeteng	$598
412 km or 256 mi	Kimberley	$861
420 km or 261 mi	Palapye	$514
446 km or 277 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
447 km or 278 mi	Serowe	$536
461 km or 286 mi	Matola	$908
472 km or 293 mi	Maputo	$915
506 km or 314 mi	Durban	$892
567 km or 353 mi	Francistown	$587
595 km or 370 mi	Xai-Xai	$915