Blantyre vs Dar es Salaam - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Blantyre	Dar es Salaam
🚶 Cost of living one person	$506	$799
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1306	$2068
🏠 One person rent	$147	$363
🏘️ Family rent	$239	$605
🍽️ Food expenses	$210	$244
🚐 Transport expenses	$98.2	$130
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$239	$288
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	23	45
😀 Quality of life	30	59
🏙️ Population	800K	4.72M

The cost of living in Blantyre is 37% less expensive than in Dar es Salaam. Cities ranked 8632nd and 6675th ($506 vs $799) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 1st in Malawi and Tanzania, respectively. Check Malawi vs Tanzania comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Blantyre compared to 0.4 months in Dar es Salaam. Blantyre ranked 1st best city to live in Malawi vs Dar es Salaam ranked 1st in Tanzania, while ranked 8786th and 6017th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Blantyre vs Dar es Salaam infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/blantyre/dar-es-salaam.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Blantyre vs Dar es Salaam infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/blantyre/dar-es-salaam" target="_blank">Blantyre vs Dar es Salaam - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Blantyre vs Dar es Salaam

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

	Blantyre	Dar es Salaam
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.97	$3.25
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$12.6	$19.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.69	$10.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1	$1.02
☕ Cappuccino	$2.02	$2.09
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.82	$0.41
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$176	$419
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$81.2	$235
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$322	$737
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$145	$422
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$21.9	$55.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$33.4	$84.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.2	$36.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.77%	19.82%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10537	$1361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$393	$1189
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.85	$0.27
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$14.9	$15.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.1	$14.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.2	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$1.13
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.94	$0.82
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.37	$2.15
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$9.75
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.58	$5.96
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.17	$4.42
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$2.73
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$0.97
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$1.1
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$0.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$0.97
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.32
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.72	$1.3
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.49	$6.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$0.98
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.88	$2.14
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.45	$3.29
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.28	$3.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.73	$1.28
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.69	$1
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.7	$87.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$1.44	$5.52
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$16.9	$17.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.96	$5.61
👖 Brand Jeans	$34	$22.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$59.1	$40.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$357	$435
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$589	$17749

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Blantyre

Distance	City	Cost of living
57 km or 35 mi	Zomba	$458
60 km or 37 mi	Mulanje	$461
112 km or 70 mi	Ntcheu	$493
149 km or 92 mi	Mangochi	$496
157 km or 98 mi	Tete	$820
191 km or 119 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
240 km or 149 mi	Lilongwe	$592
307 km or 191 mi	Quelimane	$692
405 km or 252 mi	Chimoio	$916
432 km or 269 mi	Mutare	$755
450 km or 280 mi	Beira	$996
454 km or 282 mi	Marondera	$779
458 km or 285 mi	Mzimba	$565
463 km or 287 mi	Nampula	$935
478 km or 297 mi	Harare	$1021
487 km or 303 mi	Chitungwiza	$751
493 km or 307 mi	Mzuzu	$527
541 km or 336 mi	Chinhoyi	$650
611 km or 380 mi	Kadoma	$761
626 km or 389 mi	Nacala	$1168
637 km or 396 mi	Kwekwe	$716
650 km or 404 mi	Masvingo	$873
674 km or 419 mi	Pemba	$1511
685 km or 425 mi	Gweru	$587
708 km or 440 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$748
721 km or 448 mi	Lusaka	$655
746 km or 463 mi	Kasama	$888
754 km or 469 mi	Ndola	$577
784 km or 487 mi	Mbeya	$495
803 km or 499 mi	Kitwe	$1062
811 km or 504 mi	Mufulira	$1278
837 km or 520 mi	Mansa	$912
837 km or 520 mi	Bulawayo	$658
849 km or 528 mi	Chingola	$1069
865 km or 537 mi	Choma	$687
935 km or 581 mi	Lubumbashi	$1124
991 km or 616 mi	Francistown	$587
999 km or 621 mi	Livingstone	$653
1000 km or 621 mi	Moroni	$1207
1038 km or 645 mi	Morogoro	$421

Cities near Dar es Salaam

Distance	City	Cost of living
71 km or 44 mi	Zanzibar	$609
71 km or 44 mi	Stone Town	$567
179 km or 111 mi	Morogoro	$421
194 km or 120 mi	Tanga	$552
309 km or 192 mi	Mombasa	$596
395 km or 246 mi	Dodoma	$526
409 km or 254 mi	Malindi	$548
441 km or 274 mi	Moshi	$533
478 km or 297 mi	Arusha	$612
629 km or 391 mi	Machakos	$420
671 km or 417 mi	Nairobi	$811
684 km or 425 mi	Mbeya	$495
684 km or 425 mi	Thika	$460
698 km or 434 mi	Moroni	$1207
700 km or 435 mi	Pemba	$1511
774 km or 481 mi	Mzuzu	$527
783 km or 486 mi	Meru	$549
808 km or 502 mi	Nakuru	$503
836 km or 520 mi	Domoni	$1207
843 km or 524 mi	Mzimba	$565
853 km or 530 mi	Mwanza	$656
864 km or 537 mi	Nacala	$1168
899 km or 559 mi	Kisumu	$543
925 km or 575 mi	Nampula	$935
927 km or 576 mi	Eldoret	$528
931 km or 578 mi	Mamoudzou	$1624
938 km or 583 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
955 km or 594 mi	Mumias	$511
959 km or 596 mi	Mangochi	$496
969 km or 602 mi	Kasama	$888
1000 km or 621 mi	Lilongwe	$592
1007 km or 626 mi	Tororo	$623
1026 km or 637 mi	Ntcheu	$493
1044 km or 648 mi	Mbale	$654
1047 km or 651 mi	Zomba	$458
1049 km or 652 mi	Jinja	$582
1067 km or 663 mi	Ruyigi	$687
1074 km or 667 mi	Entebbe	$578
1076 km or 668 mi	Rutana	$688
1084 km or 674 mi	Muyinga	$687