New York City vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	New York City	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$4441	$923
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$10033	$1686
🏠 One person rent	$2960	$540
🏘️ Family rent	$5380	$553
🍽️ Food expenses	$886	$231
🚐 Transport expenses	$364	$88.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5544	$1598
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	100	63
😀 Quality of life	95	38
🏙️ Population	8.8M	1.27M

The cost of living in New York City is 381% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 3rd and 5917th ($4441 vs $923) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in the United States and South Africa, respectively. Check the United States vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in New York City compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. New York City ranked 2nd best city to live in the United States vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 22nd and 7204th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in New York City vs Soweto infographic

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Prices in New York City vs Soweto

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

	New York City	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$29.7	$6.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$133	$26.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$3.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.94	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$5.95	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.2	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$3501	$827
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2603	$346
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4776	$511
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$5236	$396
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$112	$64.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$171	$100
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.5	$33.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.55%	11.66%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$17935	$850
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12929	$691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.91	$1.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$132	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$22.5	$8.52
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.02
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$5.04	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.95	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.54	$2.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.4	$4.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.6	$1.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.05	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.2	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.66	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.84	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.72	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.41	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$20	$7.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.89	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.1	$2.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.89	$2.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.44	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$6.94	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.95	$0.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$71	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$20.1	$5.71
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$173	$21.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$36.1	$3
👖 Brand Jeans	$67.3	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$113	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1784	$200
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21465	$3805

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2534
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3271
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3040
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$2886
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2703
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3302
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2701
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2756
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2698
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2720
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2730
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2792
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2667
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2729
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2740
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2512
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2693
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2732
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2531
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2587
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2637
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2614
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2749
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2664
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2480
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2715
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2722
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2676
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2747
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2664
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2716
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2745
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2611
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2456
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2674
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2772
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2730
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2610
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2456
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3111

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