Manchester vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Manchester	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2071	$923
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5081	$1686
🏠 One person rent	$1241	$540
🏘️ Family rent	$2185	$553
🍽️ Food expenses	$510	$231
🚐 Transport expenses	$179	$88.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2923	$1598
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	91	63
😀 Quality of life	92	38
🏙️ Population	548K	1.27M

The cost of living in Manchester is 124% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 1662nd and 5917th ($2071 vs $923) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 46th and 6th in the United Kingdom and South Africa, respectively. Check the United Kingdom vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Manchester compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Manchester ranked 13th best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 85th 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 Manchester vs Soweto infographic

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Prices in Manchester vs Soweto

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

	Manchester	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.7	$6.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$73.9	$26.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.7	$3.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.16	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$4.46	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.46	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1351	$827
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$936	$346
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2179	$511
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1788	$396
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$64.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$283	$100
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$35.9	$33.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.9%	11.66%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5330	$850
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3723	$691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.54	$1.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$110	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$24.9	$8.52
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.94	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.49	$1.02
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.46	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.85	$2.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.71	$4.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.9	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.04	$1.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.5	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.4	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.72	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.58	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.3	$7.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.45	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$16.6	$2.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$7.03	$2.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.47	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.35	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.79	$0.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.2	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.5	$5.71
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$84.8	$21.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.6	$3
👖 Brand Jeans	$86.9	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1818	$200
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19551	$3805

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Manchester

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.3 km or 2.7 mi	Salford	$1948
5.3 km or 3.3 mi	Droylsden	$1800
5.5 km or 3.4 mi	Stretford	$1874
7.5 km or 4.7 mi	Sale	$1845
9.1 km or 5.7 mi	Ashton-under-Lyne	$1720
12 km or 7.2 mi	Oldham	$1602
12 km or 7.6 mi	Altrincham	$1788
15 km or 9.1 mi	Bury	$1806
17 km or 11 mi	Rochdale	$1672
19 km or 12 mi	Bolton	$1806
24 km or 15 mi	Macclesfield	$1720
26 km or 16 mi	Warrington	$1962
28 km or 17 mi	Wigan	$1574
34 km or 21 mi	Chorley	$1675
34 km or 21 mi	St Helens	$1497
35 km or 22 mi	Widnes	$1753
35 km or 22 mi	Blackburn	$1686
35 km or 22 mi	Runcorn	$1762
36 km or 22 mi	Burnley	$1376
36 km or 22 mi	Huddersfield	$1680
38 km or 23 mi	Halifax	$1793
39 km or 25 mi	Brighouse	$1737
42 km or 26 mi	Leek	$1686
43 km or 27 mi	Crewe	$1486
45 km or 28 mi	Preston	$1456
46 km or 29 mi	Dewsbury	$1693
48 km or 30 mi	Bradford	$1598
49 km or 30 mi	Batley	$1707
49 km or 30 mi	Ellesmere Port	$1774
49 km or 31 mi	Keighley	$1680
50 km or 31 mi	Bootle	$1706
51 km or 31 mi	Newcastle-under-Lyme	$1465
51 km or 32 mi	Barnsley	$1401
51 km or 32 mi	Liverpool	$1774
51 km or 32 mi	Sheffield	$1764
52 km or 32 mi	Stoke-on-Trent	$1552
52 km or 33 mi	Chester	$1897
53 km or 33 mi	Bebington	$1710
53 km or 33 mi	Birkenhead	$1697
53 km or 33 mi	Crosby	$1681

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