Birmingham vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Birmingham	Lilongwe
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1951	$587
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4641	$1571
🏠 One person rent	$1137	$251
🏘️ Family rent	$1834	$555
🍽️ Food expenses	$481	$237
🚐 Transport expenses	$175	$51.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3011	$275
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	96	13
😀 Quality of life	94	20
🏙️ Population	1.14M	989K

The cost of living in Birmingham is 232% more expensive than in Lilongwe. Cities ranked 1973rd and 7807th ($1951 vs $587) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 86th and 1st in the United Kingdom and Malawi, respectively. Check the United Kingdom vs Malawi comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Birmingham compared to 0.5 months in Lilongwe. Birmingham ranked 4th best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Lilongwe ranked 4th in Malawi, while ranked 35th and 8847th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Birmingham vs Lilongwe infographic

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Prices in Birmingham vs Lilongwe

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

	Birmingham	Lilongwe
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.7	$4.27
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.3	$24.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.87	$8.14
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.15	$1.37
☕ Cappuccino	$4.2	$2.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.15	$0.93
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1083	$373
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$872	$114
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2013	$362
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1380	$474
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$187	$34.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$292	$53.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$35.8	$50.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.86%	12.4%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4882	$10555
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3808	$588
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.5	$0.91
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$78.1	$11.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18	$5.67
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.82	$1.35
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$0.95
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.51	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.04	$1.29
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.02	$2.29
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.56	$13.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.49	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$2.36
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$1.49
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$1.32
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.26
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.79	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.12	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.2	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.99	$0.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.4	$1.57
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$2.11
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.99	$0.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.44	$0.68
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$30.6	$28.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14	$4.17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$113	$17
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.4	$3.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$82.3	$23.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.2	$49.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1512	$349
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$18058	$2351

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Birmingham

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.7 km or 2.9 mi	Smethwick	$1819
6.8 km or 4.2 mi	West Bromwich	$1824
11 km or 6.6 mi	Halesowen	$1766
12 km or 7.2 mi	Solihull	$1740
12 km or 7.6 mi	Walsall	$1717
14 km or 8.7 mi	Dudley	$1745
14 km or 8.7 mi	Aldridge	$1743
15 km or 9.6 mi	Willenhall	$1732
17 km or 10 mi	Stourbridge	$1731
19 km or 12 mi	Wolverhampton	$1718
19 km or 12 mi	Bromsgrove	$1728
20 km or 12 mi	Redditch	$1608
22 km or 14 mi	Tamworth	$1737
25 km or 15 mi	Cannock	$1736
26 km or 16 mi	Kidderminster	$1744
27 km or 17 mi	Coventry	$1903
30 km or 19 mi	Nuneaton	$1452
31 km or 19 mi	Warwick	$1679
32 km or 20 mi	Leamington Spa	$2009
35 km or 22 mi	Stratford-upon-Avon	$1798
37 km or 23 mi	Hinckley	$1663
39 km or 24 mi	Worcester	$1569
39 km or 24 mi	Stafford	$1750
40 km or 25 mi	Burton upon Trent	$1633
43 km or 27 mi	Telford	$1450
45 km or 28 mi	Rugby	$1600
55 km or 34 mi	Leicester	$1805
57 km or 35 mi	Derby	$1727
57 km or 35 mi	Loughborough	$1759
60 km or 37 mi	Banbury	$1693
61 km or 38 mi	Stoke-on-Trent	$1552
63 km or 39 mi	Shrewsbury	$1591
63 km or 39 mi	Newcastle-under-Lyme	$1465
66 km or 41 mi	Cheltenham	$1739
66 km or 41 mi	Market Harborough	$1790
70 km or 44 mi	Leek	$1686
72 km or 45 mi	Gloucester	$1623
73 km or 45 mi	Hereford	$1814
73 km or 46 mi	Nottingham	$1820
73 km or 46 mi	Northampton	$1748

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$492
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$493
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$457
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$566
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$507
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$825
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$525
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$461
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$748
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$992
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$794
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$873
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$646
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$675
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$687
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$461
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$752
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$541
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$947
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$872
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$738
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$776
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$917
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1018
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$723
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$875
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$1003
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$730
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1050
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1506
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$597
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1150
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$854
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$700
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$961
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$766
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$502
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$486
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$688