Tool · Household budget

Cost of Living & Salary Adequacy

Compare estimated take-home pay with a Stats SA household-expenditure benchmark, then replace the benchmark with your own real costs.

Gross monthly salary (R) Age Household size Province Budget year Future inflation assumption (%)

Estimated net pay / monthR0.00

Benchmark / entered household costs / monthR0.00

Monthly buffer / shortfallR0.00

Annual household-cost equivalent

The benchmark is for an average South African household. Household size and province are shown as context only; PathLens does not apply an unsourced province or household-size multiplier.

Monthly budget

Edit the benchmark to match your household

R/month

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels Stats SA share 34.7% Food and non-alcoholic beverages Stats SA share 16.3% Transport Stats SA share 15.3% Alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics Stats SA share 1.4% Insurance and financial services Stats SA share 9.3% Clothing and footwear Stats SA share 5% Information and communication Stats SA share 4.5% Furnishings, household equipment and maintenance Stats SA share 4.1% Personal care, social protection and miscellaneous Stats SA share 2.9% Restaurants and accommodation services Stats SA share 2.7% Education services Stats SA share 1.4% Recreation, sport and culture Stats SA share 1.3% Health Stats SA share 1%

How to read this benchmark

National average household consumption expenditure, not a minimum living standard and not a city-specific budget.

The benchmark is household-level. Per-person scaling is not applied automatically because many costs are shared and do not scale linearly.

Province/city is recorded as context only. Demand Desk does not apply an unsourced geographic multiplier; users can override category amounts.

Observed CPI is used for available years. Future years use the selected inflation assumption and are MODELLED, not forecast.

Stats SA reported average annual household consumption expenditure of in the 2022/23 survey year. Housing/utilities, food and transport were the three largest expenditure divisions.

Stats SA IES 2022/23 source → Open inflation calculator → Open Statistics →