Contrary to popular belief, Pretoria is South Africa’s most expensive city to live in, ahead Johannesburg and Cape Town, two popular ranking systems have found.
Data group Numbeo and expat portal Expatistan have published their Cost of Living indices for 2018, listing the cheapest and most expensive cities to live in across the globe. These indices rely on user input, so there are doubts about their accuracy, but comparisons with similar rankings with objective data do support the Numbeo and Expatistan rankings.
The rankings take into account the average cost of salaries and the price of property per square metre.
Both rankings feature Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth as the top South African cities.
Pretoria has held the top spot since 2016 when it took over the top spot from Johannesburg, which took the top spot from Cape Town in 2015.
Overall, Pretoria ranks 354th and 185th on the Numbeo and Expatistan ranking, respectively, showing that South African cities are still relatively cheap compared to their international counterparts.
Accra in Ghana is, according to Numbeo, the most expensive city in Africa, followed by Pretoria, Windhoek and Harare respectively. Cape Town is the 8th most expensive city in Africa. The most expensive city in the world is Hamilton, Bermuda, according to both indices, ahead of Geneva and Zurich.