Blantyre vs Gaborone - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Blantyre	Gaborone
🚶 Cost of living one person	$506	$668
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1306	$1648
🏠 One person rent	$147	$243
🏘️ Family rent	$239	$391
🍽️ Food expenses	$210	$297
🚐 Transport expenses	$98.2	$62.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$239	$382
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	23	39
😀 Quality of life	30	61
🏙️ Population	800K	236K

The cost of living in Blantyre is 24% less expensive than in Gaborone. Cities ranked 8632nd and 7301st ($506 vs $668) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 1st in Malawi and Botswana, respectively. Check Malawi vs Botswana comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Blantyre compared to 0.6 months in Gaborone. Blantyre ranked 1st best city to live in Malawi vs Gaborone ranked 1st in Botswana, while ranked 8786th and 5842nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Blantyre vs Gaborone infographic

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Prices in Blantyre vs Gaborone

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

	Blantyre	Gaborone
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.97	$9.79
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$12.6	$28.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.69	$5.66
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1	$2.12
☕ Cappuccino	$2.02	$2.17
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.82	$0.76
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$176	$222
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$81.2	$137
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$322	$402
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$145	$249
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$21.9	$39.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$33.4	$61.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.2	$49.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.77%	9.04%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10537	$1000
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$393	$994
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.85	$0.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$14.9	$29
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.1	$19.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.2	$1.08
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.94	$0.82
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.74
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.37	$2.22
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$6.45
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.58	$4.87
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.17	$5.22
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$1.39
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$1.55
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$1.37
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.22
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.57
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.72	$1.34
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.49	$4.24
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$1.48
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.88	$3.55
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.45	$11.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.28	$5.31
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.73	$0.51
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.69	$2.89
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.7	$30.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$1.44	$6.36
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$16.9	$18.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.96	$4.46
👖 Brand Jeans	$34	$43.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$59.1	$67.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$357	$138
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$589	$3401

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 Gaborone

Distance	City	Cost of living
50 km or 31 mi	Molepolole	$607
67 km or 42 mi	Lobatse	$637
67 km or 42 mi	Kanye	$637
136 km or 84 mi	Mmabatho	$833
174 km or 108 mi	Rustenburg	$940
196 km or 122 mi	Mahalapye	$577
215 km or 134 mi	Brits	$875
257 km or 160 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
258 km or 160 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
259 km or 161 mi	Pretoria	$975
264 km or 164 mi	Randburg	$890
265 km or 165 mi	Palapye	$514
266 km or 165 mi	Centurion	$892
266 km or 165 mi	Soweto	$984
266 km or 165 mi	Serowe	$536
269 km or 167 mi	Sandton	$984
275 km or 171 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
296 km or 184 mi	Benoni	$826
298 km or 185 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
302 km or 188 mi	Vereeniging	$706
310 km or 193 mi	Springs	$740
358 km or 222 mi	Kroonstad	$808
379 km or 235 mi	Welkom	$762
380 km or 236 mi	Middelburg	$830
407 km or 253 mi	Bethal	$838
421 km or 261 mi	Francistown	$587
468 km or 291 mi	Kimberley	$861
495 km or 308 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
514 km or 319 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
531 km or 330 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
540 km or 336 mi	Maseru	$650
559 km or 347 mi	Mbabane	$599
569 km or 354 mi	Bulawayo	$658
584 km or 363 mi	Manzini	$469
589 km or 366 mi	Mafeteng	$598
597 km or 371 mi	Vryheid	$827
628 km or 390 mi	Upington	$746
675 km or 419 mi	Matola	$908
685 km or 425 mi	Maputo	$915
705 km or 438 mi	Gweru	$587