Mexico City vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Mexico City	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1475	$1031
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3516	$1903
🏠 One person rent	$792	$604
🏘️ Family rent	$1397	$628
🍽️ Food expenses	$447	$268
🚐 Transport expenses	$107	$90.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1122	$382
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	8 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	93	63
😀 Quality of life	73	43
🏙️ Population	9.21M	1.27M

The cost of living in Mexico City is 43% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 4074th and 5331st ($1475 vs $1031) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 7th in Mexico and South Africa, respectively. Check Mexico vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.8 months in Mexico City compared to 0.4 months in Soweto. Mexico City ranked 1st best city to live in Mexico vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 2482nd and 7513th among best cities to live in the world.

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

Prices in Mexico City vs Soweto

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

	Mexico City	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.6	$6.93
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$44	$29.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.3	$4.63
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.62	$2.12
☕ Cappuccino	$4.18	$2.31
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.71	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1061	$911
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$634	$382
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1959	$566
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1139	$444
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$40.1	$81.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$60.6	$125
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$33.2	$34.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.41%	11.01%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3972	$980
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2110	$760
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$2
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$24.7	$34
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.69	$8.05
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.49	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.82	$1.13
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.52	$1.03
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$1.46
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.98	$2.74
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$8.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.81	$4.62
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.3	$7.66
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.98	$1.89
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.98	$1.76
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.63
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$1.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$0.87
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.43	$1.29
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.7	$8.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.02	$1.69
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.2	$2.98
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$7.02	$3.15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.06	$2.75
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.27	$1.3
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.09	$0.54
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.4	$14.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.59	$5.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$58.5	$23
💇 Haircut, simple	$19.1	$3.31
👖 Brand Jeans	$69.5	$53.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$492	$243
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13182	$5012

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Mexico City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7.1 mi	Naucalpan	$977
14 km or 8.7 mi	Tlalnepantla	$1003
17 km or 10 mi	Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl	$959
19 km or 12 mi	Ciudad Lopez Mateos	$1000
22 km or 14 mi	Ecatepec de Morelos	$832
25 km or 16 mi	Tultitlan de Mariano Escobedo	$940
25 km or 16 mi	Chicoloapan de Juarez	$1050
26 km or 16 mi	Cuautitlan Izcalli	$878
29 km or 18 mi	Texcoco de Mora	$981
30 km or 19 mi	Tultepec	$914
31 km or 19 mi	Chalco de Diaz Covarrubias	$1013
42 km or 26 mi	Zumpango	$932
55 km or 34 mi	Toluca	$994
56 km or 35 mi	Cuernavaca	$874
60 km or 37 mi	Jiutepec	$897
70 km or 44 mi	Cuautla	$1034
89 km or 55 mi	Pachuca	$763
93 km or 58 mi	Atlixco	$971
105 km or 65 mi	San Jose Villa de Allende	$976
106 km or 66 mi	Puebla	$1051
107 km or 67 mi	Taxco	$973
126 km or 79 mi	Iguala	$980
140 km or 87 mi	San Juan del Rio	$1047
184 km or 114 mi	Queretaro	$1255
192 km or 119 mi	Teziutlan	$960
211 km or 131 mi	Chilpancingo	$755
213 km or 132 mi	Tehuacan	$924
214 km or 133 mi	Celaya	$817
216 km or 134 mi	Poza Rica	$916
217 km or 135 mi	Morelia	$935
224 km or 139 mi	Cortazar	$905
224 km or 139 mi	Orizaba	$952
225 km or 140 mi	Yuriria	$961
229 km or 143 mi	Coatepec	$852
234 km or 145 mi	Xalapa	$673
236 km or 146 mi	San Miguel de Allende	$1472
239 km or 149 mi	Cordoba	$974
250 km or 155 mi	Salamanca	$962
269 km or 167 mi	Irapuato	$920
281 km or 174 mi	Zacapu	$1005

Cities near Soweto

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Johannesburg	$1204
24 km or 15 mi	Randburg	$912
26 km or 16 mi	Sandton	$1104
46 km or 28 mi	Vereeniging	$742
46 km or 29 mi	Benoni	$851
48 km or 30 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$867
56 km or 34 mi	Centurion	$997
58 km or 36 mi	Springs	$784
66 km or 41 mi	Pretoria	$1015
73 km or 45 mi	Brits	$950
91 km or 56 mi	Potchefstroom	$789
92 km or 57 mi	Rustenburg	$994
137 km or 85 mi	Klerksdorp	$860
159 km or 99 mi	Bethal	$902
166 km or 103 mi	Kroonstad	$872
170 km or 106 mi	Middelburg	$875
222 km or 138 mi	Welkom	$811
228 km or 142 mi	Mmabatho	$903
249 km or 155 mi	Lobatse	$691
266 km or 165 mi	Gaborone	$723
282 km or 175 mi	Butha-Buthe	$589
290 km or 180 mi	Kanye	$691
315 km or 196 mi	Molepolole	$663
321 km or 199 mi	Teyateyaneng	$558
329 km or 204 mi	Mbabane	$607
335 km or 208 mi	Vryheid	$882
341 km or 212 mi	Maseru	$660
350 km or 217 mi	Manzini	$494
354 km or 220 mi	Bloemfontein	$742
367 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$615
399 km or 248 mi	Mafeteng	$611
412 km or 256 mi	Kimberley	$904
420 km or 261 mi	Palapye	$549
446 km or 277 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$725
447 km or 278 mi	Serowe	$590
461 km or 286 mi	Matola	$912
472 km or 293 mi	Maputo	$1014
506 km or 314 mi	Durban	$938
567 km or 353 mi	Francistown	$632
595 km or 370 mi	Xai-Xai	$965