Adelaide vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Adelaide	Lilongwe
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2338	$591
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4797	$1409
🏠 One person rent	$1428	$250
🏘️ Family rent	$2032	$382
🍽️ Food expenses	$589	$241
🚐 Transport expenses	$180	$51.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3804	$121
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	50	14
😀 Quality of life	93	30
🏙️ Population	1.39M	989K

The cost of living in Adelaide is 296% more expensive than in Lilongwe. Cities ranked 1210th and 8027th ($2338 vs $591) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 9th and 1st in Australia and Malawi, respectively. Check Australia vs Malawi comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Adelaide compared to 0.2 months in Lilongwe. Adelaide ranked 5th best city to live in Australia vs Lilongwe ranked 3rd in Malawi, while ranked 73rd and 8837th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/adelaide/lilongwe.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Adelaide vs Lilongwe infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/adelaide/lilongwe" target="_blank">Adelaide vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Adelaide vs Lilongwe

Prices for goods and services in Adelaide and Lilongwe are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Adelaide	Lilongwe
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.9	$4.25
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$79.2	$24.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.5	$8.08
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.33	$1.54
☕ Cappuccino	$4.02	$2.31
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.76	$1.43
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1521	$373
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1196	$112
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2231	$601
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1697	$198
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$114	$34.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$174	$52.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$53.2	$50.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.37%	12.71%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8511	$9004
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5565	$506
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.19	$0.91
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$81.2	$11.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.7	$5.64
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.24	$1.35
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.68	$1.05
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.56	$1.09
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.1	$1.42
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.2	$2.28
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$13.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.67	$3.28
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.7	$3.98
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.48	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.84	$1.23
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.14	$1.49
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.67	$1.33
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.78	$1.25
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$1.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.21	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.55	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.6	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.74	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$23	$1.74
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.16	$2.1
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.16	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.61	$0.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.49	$0.66
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.7	$28.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.1	$4.53
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.6	$17.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.1	$3.64
👖 Brand Jeans	$80.5	$22.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$123	$48.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1013	$349
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$8002	$2330

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Adelaide

Distance	City	Cost of living
253 km or 157 mi	Whyalla	$2128
337 km or 209 mi	Mildura	$1904
377 km or 235 mi	Mount Gambier	$1901
518 km or 322 mi	Warrnambool	$1870
551 km or 342 mi	Bendigo	$1487
555 km or 345 mi	Ballarat	$1604
618 km or 384 mi	Melton	$1906
623 km or 387 mi	Sunbury	$1928
627 km or 390 mi	Geelong	$2217
633 km or 393 mi	Tarneit	$1822
636 km or 395 mi	Shepparton	$1815
637 km or 396 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1854
655 km or 407 mi	Melbourne	$2496
658 km or 409 mi	South Yarra	$1829
683 km or 424 mi	Dandenong	$1894
686 km or 426 mi	Griffith	$1824
686 km or 426 mi	Frankston	$1889
694 km or 431 mi	Cranbourne	$1798
695 km or 432 mi	Berwick	$1860
709 km or 440 mi	Pakenham	$1896
797 km or 496 mi	Traralgon	$1979
800 km or 497 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
959 km or 596 mi	Canberra	$2223
971 km or 603 mi	Devonport	$1898
974 km or 605 mi	Dubbo	$1867
985 km or 612 mi	Orange	$1477
1016 km or 631 mi	Goulburn	$1821
1025 km or 637 mi	Bathurst	$1699
1040 km or 646 mi	Launceston	$1753
1125 km or 699 mi	Wollongong	$1695
1138 km or 707 mi	Blacktown	$1710
1143 km or 710 mi	Kellyville	$2050
1146 km or 712 mi	Parramatta	$2482
1162 km or 722 mi	Hobart	$2308
1163 km or 723 mi	Sydney	$2844
1173 km or 729 mi	Dee Why	$2379
1234 km or 767 mi	Newcastle	$1997
1318 km or 819 mi	Armidale	$1288
1330 km or 826 mi	Alice Springs	$1590
1387 km or 862 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$521
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$495
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$496
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$458
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$530
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$505
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$828
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$527
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$461
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$1002
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$1024
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$768
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$770
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$639
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$692
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$815
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$469
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$764
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$613
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$924
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$935
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$686
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$1030
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$1189
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1473
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$754
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$1229
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$1000
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$706
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1133
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1521
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$577
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1181
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$861
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$750
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$1039
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$630
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$506
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$408
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$718