Cost of living comparison

Mexico

compared to

South Africa

Pretoria vs. Mexico City Cost of Living Summary

Pretoria is 21.7% cheaper than Mexico City.

Restaurants: pay 35.0% less in Pretoria
Groceries: pay 36.4% less in Pretoria
Transportation: pay 2.0 times more in Pretoria
Housing: pay 33.2% less in Pretoria
Childcare: pay 37.7% less in Pretoria
Entertainment and Sports: pay 28.6% less in Pretoria
Clothing: pay 27.9% less in Pretoria

Expenses including childcare, groceries, restaurants, housing, entertainment and sports, and clothing are lower in Pretoria. Notably, transportation is significantly more expensive in Pretoria.

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Pretoria vs. Mexico City Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Pretoria instead of Mexico City, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 35.0% less for restaurants

	Mexico City	Pretoria
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$11.13 MX$205.76	$9.01 ZAR148.66	-19.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.07 MX$204.73	$5.41 ZAR89.20	-51.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.63 MX$30.14	$1.06 ZAR17.48	-35.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.30 MX$24.06	$0.85 ZAR14.04	-34.6%
Average			-35.0%

Mexico City vs. Pretoria - Cost of restaurants

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pay 36.4% less for groceries

	Mexico City	Pretoria
Bread 1 loaf	$3.03 MX$56.07	$1.10 ZAR18.21	-63.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.02 MX$111.38	$4.18 ZAR68.94	-30.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.73 MX$124.42	$4.45 ZAR73.36	-33.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.87 MX$53.00	$2.47 ZAR40.74	-13.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.39 MX$81.13	$2.23 ZAR36.86	-49.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.43 MX$26.42	$0.79 ZAR13.10	-44.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.90 MX$16.67	$0.74 ZAR12.22	-17.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.93 MX$17.19	$0.79 ZAR13.11	-14.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.04 MX$19.27	$0.72 ZAR11.92	-30.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.91 MX$16.90	$0.50 ZAR8.18	-45.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.85 MX$15.71	$0.54 ZAR8.93	-36.2%
Average			-36.4%

Mexico City vs. Pretoria - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.0 times more for transportation

	Mexico City	Pretoria
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.76 MX$106.56	$5.75 ZAR94.81	-0.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$20.03 MX$370.37	$177.56 ZAR2,928.68	+786.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$21,528.95 MX$398K	$35,391.94 ZAR584K	+64.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.54 MX$120.88	$6.55 ZAR108.03	+0.2%
Average			+100.2%

Mexico City vs. Pretoria - Cost of transportation

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pay 33.2% less for housing

	Mexico City	Pretoria
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$34.66 MX$640.87	$36.83 ZAR607.50	+6.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,053.82 MX$19,488.15	$454.27 ZAR7,492.67	-56.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$672.38 MX$12,434.27	$405.14 ZAR6,682.45	-39.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$47.71 MX$882.34	$115.49 ZAR1,904.94	+142.1%
Average			-33.2%

Mexico City vs. Pretoria - Cost of housing

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pay 37.7% less for childcare

	Mexico City	Pretoria
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$435.78 MX$8,058.88	$260.78 ZAR4,301.35	-40.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$12,045.70 MX$223K	$7,821.75 ZAR129K	-35.1%
Average			-37.7%

Mexico City vs. Pretoria - Cost of childcare

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pay 28.6% less for entertainment and sports

	Mexico City	Pretoria
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.34 MX$61.73	$2.55 ZAR42.12	-23.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.80 MX$70.36	$2.25 ZAR37.17	-40.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.29 MX$97.74	$3.25 ZAR53.60	-38.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$57.09 MX$1,055.72	$31.49 ZAR519.46	-44.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.68 MX$123.46	$7.21 ZAR118.93	+8.0%
Average			-28.6%

Mexico City vs. Pretoria - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 27.9% less for clothing

	Mexico City	Pretoria
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$70.61 MX$1,305.78	$53.03 ZAR874.71	-24.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$53.64 MX$991.98	$32.00 ZAR527.89	-40.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$109.04 MX$2,016.43	$91.85 ZAR1,515.02	-15.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$115.97 MX$2,144.64	$82.87 ZAR1,366.87	-28.5%
Average			-27.9%

Mexico City 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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