Cost of living comparison

Thailand

compared to

South Africa

Pretoria vs. Bangkok Cost of Living Summary

Pretoria is 2.2% cheaper than Bangkok.

Restaurants: pay 72.8% more in Pretoria
Groceries: pay 26.9% less in Pretoria
Transportation: pay 52.7% more in Pretoria
Housing: pay 0.8% less in Pretoria
Childcare: pay 53.4% less in Pretoria
Entertainment and Sports: pay 22.4% less in Pretoria
Clothing: pay 20.5% less in Pretoria

The cost of restaurants and transportation in Pretoria are more expensive than in Bangkok. Expenses including childcare, groceries, entertainment and sports, clothing, and housing are lower in Pretoria.

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Pretoria vs. Bangkok Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Pretoria instead of Bangkok, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 72.8% more for restaurants

	Bangkok	Pretoria
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.97 THB98.83	$9.01 ZAR148.66	+203.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.98 THB232.24	$5.41 ZAR89.20	-22.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.65 THB21.64	$1.06 ZAR17.48	+62.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.35 THB11.72	$0.85 ZAR14.04	+141.5%
Average			+72.8%

Bangkok vs. Pretoria - Cost of restaurants

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pay 26.9% less for groceries

	Bangkok	Pretoria
Bread 1 loaf	$1.48 THB49.16	$1.10 ZAR18.21	-25.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.63 THB287.02	$4.18 ZAR68.94	-51.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.27 THB241.89	$4.45 ZAR73.36	-38.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.56 THB85.32	$2.47 ZAR40.74	-3.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.63 THB54.28	$2.23 ZAR36.86	+37.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.77 THB58.85	$0.79 ZAR13.10	-55.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.81 THB26.83	$0.74 ZAR12.22	-8.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.24 THB41.35	$0.79 ZAR13.11	-36.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.87 THB29.09	$0.72 ZAR11.92	-17.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.78 THB26.00	$0.50 ZAR8.18	-36.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.69 THB23.01	$0.54 ZAR8.93	-21.7%
Average			-26.9%

Bangkok vs. Pretoria - Cost of groceries

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pay 52.7% more for transportation

	Bangkok	Pretoria
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.32 THB176.90	$5.75 ZAR94.81	+8.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$34.98 THB1,163.67	$177.56 ZAR2,928.68	+407.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$31,193.83 THB1M	$35,391.94 ZAR584K	+13.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$10.55 THB350.83	$6.55 ZAR108.03	-37.9%
Average			+52.7%

Bangkok vs. Pretoria - Cost of transportation

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pay 0.8% less for housing

	Bangkok	Pretoria
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$17.88 THB594.63	$36.83 ZAR607.50	+106.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$675.80 THB22,480.48	$454.27 ZAR7,492.67	-32.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$346.10 THB11,513.16	$405.14 ZAR6,682.45	+17.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$82.03 THB2,728.64	$115.49 ZAR1,904.94	+40.8%
Average			-0.8%

Bangkok vs. Pretoria - Cost of housing

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pay 53.4% less for childcare

	Bangkok	Pretoria
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$568.31 THB18,904.94	$260.78 ZAR4,301.35	-54.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,500.59 THB549K	$7,821.75 ZAR129K	-52.6%
Average			-53.4%

Bangkok vs. Pretoria - Cost of childcare

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pay 22.4% less for entertainment and sports

	Bangkok	Pretoria
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.67 THB88.94	$2.55 ZAR42.12	-4.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.79 THB92.95	$2.25 ZAR37.17	-19.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.60 THB153.18	$3.25 ZAR53.60	-29.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$58.43 THB1,943.57	$31.49 ZAR519.46	-46.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.58 THB252.00	$7.21 ZAR118.93	-4.8%
Average			-22.4%

Bangkok vs. Pretoria - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 20.5% less for clothing

	Bangkok	Pretoria
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$70.75 THB2,353.53	$53.03 ZAR874.71	-25.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$42.94 THB1,428.36	$32.00 ZAR527.89	-25.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$97.05 THB3,228.30	$91.85 ZAR1,515.02	-5.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$109.92 THB3,656.54	$82.87 ZAR1,366.87	-24.6%
Average			-20.5%

Bangkok vs. Pretoria - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

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