Moscow vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Moscow	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1438	$984
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3409	$1812
🏠 One person rent	$864	$567
🏘️ Family rent	$1523	$581
🍽️ Food expenses	$357	$247
🚐 Transport expenses	$109	$104
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$881	$1672
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	27 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	96	63
😀 Quality of life	73	45
🏙️ Population	13.3M	1.27M

The cost of living in Moscow is 46% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 4141st and 5704th ($1438 vs $984) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 7th in Russia and South Africa, respectively. Check Russia vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Moscow compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Moscow ranked 1st best city to live in Russia vs Soweto ranked 9th in South Africa, while ranked 2664th and 7050th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Moscow vs Soweto infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

Prices in Moscow vs Soweto

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

	Moscow	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12.3	$6.53
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$55.4	$28.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.18	$4.24
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.27	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$3.35	$2.14
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.47	$1.07
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1183	$867
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$660	$362
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2170	$538
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1176	$415
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91.2	$69.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$140	$108
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$8.08	$33.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	24.47%	11.64%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9466	$907
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4008	$724
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.87	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.7	$32.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.62	$11.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$1.2
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.25	$1.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.87	$0.96
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.7	$2.62
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.8	$8.24
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.71	$4.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$6.66
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$1.56
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.02	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.57	$1.55
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.99	$1.31
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$1.2
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.5	$1.21
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.17	$7.85
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.12	$1.65
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.09	$2.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.18	$2.99
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.05	$2.57
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.92	$1.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.81	$0.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.4	$13.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.34	$6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$34.3	$21.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.45	$3.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$78.3	$49.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$127	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$688	$202
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15272	$3811

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Moscow

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Khimki	$914
19 km or 12 mi	Krasnogorsk	$915
19 km or 12 mi	Lyubertsy	$917
19 km or 12 mi	Mytishchi	$800
21 km or 13 mi	Balashikha	$898
22 km or 14 mi	Korolyov	$831
37 km or 23 mi	Podolsk	$876
52 km or 32 mi	Elektrostal	$863
96 km or 60 mi	Obninsk	$671
161 km or 100 mi	Kaluga	$582
161 km or 100 mi	Tver	$727
173 km or 107 mi	Tula	$837
179 km or 111 mi	Vladimir	$650
184 km or 114 mi	Ryazan	$692
248 km or 154 mi	Yaroslavl	$672
250 km or 155 mi	Ivanovo	$615
266 km or 165 mi	Rybinsk	$678
301 km or 187 mi	Kostroma	$765
326 km or 202 mi	Oryol	$660
349 km or 217 mi	Bryansk	$629
366 km or 228 mi	Dzerzhinsk	$697
369 km or 229 mi	Smolensk	$547
372 km or 231 mi	Lipetsk	$570
376 km or 234 mi	Cherepovets	$543
402 km or 250 mi	Nizhny Novgorod	$882
408 km or 254 mi	Vologda	$544
419 km or 260 mi	Tambov	$672
457 km or 284 mi	Kursk	$649
466 km or 290 mi	Voronezh	$707
474 km or 294 mi	Vitebsk	$293
491 km or 305 mi	Veliky Novgorod	$734
495 km or 308 mi	Starooskolsky	$537
496 km or 308 mi	Stary Oskol	$485
509 km or 316 mi	Mogilev	$545
513 km or 319 mi	Saransk	$719
555 km or 345 mi	Penza	$537
568 km or 353 mi	Gomel	$475
571 km or 355 mi	Sumy	$496
577 km or 359 mi	Belgorod	$718
601 km or 373 mi	Cheboksary	$772

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