Cost of living comparison

Colombia

compared to

South Africa

Johannesburg vs. Bogota Cost of Living Summary

Johannesburg is 4.5% cheaper than Bogota.

Restaurants: pay 7.2% more in Johannesburg
Groceries: pay 10.4% less in Johannesburg
Transportation: pay 27.1% more in Johannesburg
Housing: pay 8.5% less in Johannesburg
Childcare: pay 40.9% less in Johannesburg
Entertainment and Sports: pay 1.6% more in Johannesburg
Clothing: pay 15.0% less in Johannesburg

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

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Johannesburg vs. Bogota Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Johannesburg instead of Bogota, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 7.2% more for restaurants

	Bogota	Johannesburg
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$7.72 COP24,504.06	$12.02 ZAR198.22	+55.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.19 COP32,345.37	$7.21 ZAR118.93	-29.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.34 COP4,267.92	$1.20 ZAR19.75	-10.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.87 COP2,755.00	$0.89 ZAR14.70	+2.7%
Average			+7.2%

Bogota vs. Johannesburg - Cost of restaurants

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pay 10.4% less for groceries

	Bogota	Johannesburg
Bread 1 loaf	$2.42 COP7,690.34	$1.25 ZAR20.56	-48.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.93 COP12,460.95	$4.31 ZAR71.09	+9.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.14 COP19,479.18	$5.00 ZAR82.53	-18.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.39 COP10,767.09	$2.67 ZAR44.10	-21.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.30 COP10,487.06	$2.50 ZAR41.25	-24.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.56 COP4,960.76	$0.93 ZAR15.38	-40.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.81 COP2,555.68	$0.83 ZAR13.71	+3.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.87 COP2,775.49	$0.83 ZAR13.63	-5.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.79 COP2,499.80	$0.94 ZAR15.50	+19.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.65 COP2,066.32	$0.76 ZAR12.57	+17.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.63 COP1,985.15	$0.84 ZAR13.80	+33.8%
Average			-10.4%

Bogota vs. Johannesburg - Cost of groceries

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pay 27.1% more for transportation

	Bogota	Johannesburg
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.90 COP15,551.55	$5.77 ZAR95.18	+17.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$49.41 COP157K	$90.13 ZAR1,486.64	+82.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$23,161.08 COP74M	$35,391.94 ZAR584K	+52.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$20.84 COP66,160.97	$8.05 ZAR132.81	-61.4%
Average			+27.1%

Bogota vs. Johannesburg - Cost of transportation

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pay 8.5% less for housing

	Bogota	Johannesburg
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$29.75 COP94,422.33	$35.90 ZAR592.10	+20.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$779.14 COP2M	$498.84 ZAR8,227.92	-36.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$440.22 COP1M	$425.42 ZAR7,016.95	-3.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$93.36 COP296K	$174.98 ZAR2,886.07	+87.4%
Average			-8.5%

Bogota vs. Johannesburg - Cost of housing

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pay 40.9% less for childcare

	Bogota	Johannesburg
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$463.22 COP1M	$242.74 ZAR4,003.77	-47.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$8,195.93 COP26M	$5,468.16 ZAR90,191.79	-33.3%
Average			-40.9%

Bogota vs. Johannesburg - Cost of childcare

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pay 1.6% more for entertainment and sports

	Bogota	Johannesburg
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.01 COP6,371.06	$2.25 ZAR37.17	+12.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.52 COP7,993.08	$2.44 ZAR40.27	-3.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.32 COP13,722.28	$3.30 ZAR54.51	-23.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.42 COP106K	$36.60 ZAR603.73	+9.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.72 COP24,504.06	$7.81 ZAR128.84	+1.2%
Average			+1.6%

Bogota vs. Johannesburg - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 15.0% less for clothing

	Bogota	Johannesburg
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$82.94 COP263K	$57.63 ZAR950.55	-30.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$47.35 COP150K	$45.77 ZAR754.99	-3.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$141.13 COP448K	$108.45 ZAR1,788.73	-23.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$104.65 COP332K	$105.86 ZAR1,746.13	+1.2%
Average			-15.0%

Bogota vs. Johannesburg - 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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Size Comparison · See true size

Bogota is about 5 times smaller than Johannesburg.

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