Melbourne vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Melbourne	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2194	$923
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5150	$1686
🏠 One person rent	$1216	$540
🏘️ Family rent	$1971	$553
🍽️ Food expenses	$541	$231
🚐 Transport expenses	$296	$88.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3902	$1598
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	100	63
😀 Quality of life	100	38
🏙️ Population	5.03M	1.27M

The cost of living in Melbourne is 138% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 1365th and 5917th ($2194 vs $923) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 6th in Australia and South Africa, respectively. Check Australia vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Melbourne compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Melbourne ranked 1st best city to live in Australia vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 1st and 7204th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Melbourne vs Soweto infographic

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Prices in Melbourne vs Soweto

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

	Melbourne	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$14.2	$6.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.9	$26.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.78	$3.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.09	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$3.38	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.54	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1287	$827
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1014	$346
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2611	$511
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1561	$396
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.7	$64.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$150	$100
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$49.3	$33.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.24%	11.66%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6900	$850
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5335	$691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.51	$1.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$117	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.7	$8.52
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.2	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.39	$1.02
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.28	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.2	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.68	$2.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.78	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.79	$4.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.1	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$1.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.8	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.91	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.93	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.47	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.93	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.59	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.5	$7.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.57	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$29	$2.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.67	$2.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.2	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.67	$0.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.2	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.1	$5.71
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.3	$21.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$22.2	$3
👖 Brand Jeans	$70.1	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1683	$200
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19705	$3805

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Melbourne

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	South Yarra	$1620
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1635
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1625
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1645
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1691
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1669
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1671
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1643
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1600
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1654
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$1981
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1390
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1291
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$1727
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1601
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1631
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1701
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1457
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1768
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1619
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1651
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2023
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1691
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1616
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2106
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1511
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1538
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1416
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$1978
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1584
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1702
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2252
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$1824
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2539
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2099
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1448
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$1795
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1681
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1185
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1963

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