Moscow vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Moscow	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1244	$923
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3114	$1686
🏠 One person rent	$730	$540
🏘️ Family rent	$1434	$553
🍽️ Food expenses	$312	$231
🚐 Transport expenses	$100	$88.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1546	$1598
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	27 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	96	63
😀 Quality of life	74	38
🏙️ Population	13.1M	1.27M

The cost of living in Moscow is 35% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 4359th and 5917th ($1244 vs $923) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Russia and South Africa, respectively. Check Russia vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Moscow compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Moscow ranked 1st best city to live in Russia vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 1187th 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 Moscow vs Soweto infographic

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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	$9.55	$6.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$46.7	$26.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.26	$3.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.79	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$2.85	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$971	$827
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$566	$346
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2192	$511
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1092	$396
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$73.7	$64.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$113	$100
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.08	$33.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	22.71%	11.66%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7641	$850
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3605	$691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.72	$1.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$31.2	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.31	$8.52
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.65	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.07	$1.02
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.67	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.16	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.75	$2.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.11	$4.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.7	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.35	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.71	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.66	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.45	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.94	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.06	$7.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.99	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.72	$2.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.36	$2.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.92	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.01	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.82	$0.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$38.9	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.52	$5.71
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$28.7	$21.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.41	$3
👖 Brand Jeans	$82.5	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$124	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$591	$200
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12252	$3805

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	$786
19 km or 12 mi	Krasnogorsk	$791
19 km or 12 mi	Lyubertsy	$867
19 km or 12 mi	Mytishchi	$622
21 km or 13 mi	Balashikha	$676
22 km or 14 mi	Korolyov	$743
37 km or 23 mi	Podolsk	$633
52 km or 32 mi	Elektrostal	$719
96 km or 60 mi	Obninsk	$609
161 km or 100 mi	Kaluga	$538
161 km or 100 mi	Tver	$639
173 km or 107 mi	Tula	$552
179 km or 111 mi	Vladimir	$681
184 km or 114 mi	Ryazan	$564
248 km or 154 mi	Yaroslavl	$523
250 km or 155 mi	Ivanovo	$554
266 km or 165 mi	Rybinsk	$675
301 km or 187 mi	Kostroma	$540
326 km or 202 mi	Oryol	$505
349 km or 217 mi	Bryansk	$513
366 km or 228 mi	Dzerzhinsk	$636
369 km or 229 mi	Smolensk	$479
372 km or 231 mi	Lipetsk	$430
376 km or 234 mi	Cherepovets	$584
402 km or 250 mi	Nizhny Novgorod	$717
408 km or 254 mi	Vologda	$528
419 km or 260 mi	Tambov	$561
457 km or 284 mi	Kursk	$490
466 km or 290 mi	Voronezh	$448
474 km or 294 mi	Vitebsk	$300
491 km or 305 mi	Veliky Novgorod	$737
495 km or 308 mi	Starooskolsky	$473
496 km or 308 mi	Stary Oskol	$434
509 km or 316 mi	Mogilev	$474
513 km or 319 mi	Saransk	$438
555 km or 345 mi	Penza	$524
568 km or 353 mi	Gomel	$440
571 km or 355 mi	Sumy	$486
577 km or 359 mi	Belgorod	$552
601 km or 373 mi	Cheboksary	$592

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