Riyadh vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Riyadh	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1637	$923
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3629	$1686
🏠 One person rent	$944	$540
🏘️ Family rent	$1530	$553
🍽️ Food expenses	$375	$231
🚐 Transport expenses	$183	$88.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2731	$1598
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	72	63
😀 Quality of life	78	38
🏙️ Population	7.01M	1.27M

The cost of living in Riyadh is 77% more expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 2911th and 5917th ($1637 vs $923) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Saudi Arabia and South Africa, respectively. Check Saudi Arabia vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Riyadh compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Riyadh ranked 1st best city to live in Saudi Arabia vs Soweto ranked 10th in South Africa, while ranked 733rd and 7204th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Riyadh vs Soweto infographic

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Prices in Riyadh vs Soweto

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

	Riyadh	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.31	$6.16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$53.6	$26.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.02	$3.92
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.88	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$4.16	$2.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.76	$0.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1001	$827
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$748	$346
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2174	$511
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1140	$396
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$69.4	$64.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$107	$100
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$75.4	$33.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.42%	11.66%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2485	$850
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1703	$691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.07	$1.98
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.2	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.4	$8.52
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.61	$1.16
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.71	$1.02
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.28	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.33	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.75	$2.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.14	$7.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.75	$4.06
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$6.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.3	$1.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.86	$1.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$1.46
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.37	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.14	$1.17
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.71	$7.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.72	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.19	$2.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.8	$2.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.03	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.23	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$5.22	$0.49
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$102	$12.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16	$5.71
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.2	$21.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.23	$3
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.2	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$404	$200
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10598	$3805

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$969
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$861
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$1068
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1056
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$901
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$897
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1223
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1243
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1280
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1041
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1779
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1709
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1393
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$846
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$740
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$736
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$551
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$723
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$547
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$904
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$544
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$905
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$546
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$548
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$672
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1215
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$557
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$536
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$582
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$597
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$979
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$589
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$683
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$902
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$547
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$529

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