Blantyre vs Male - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Blantyre	Male
🚶 Cost of living one person	$506	$1320
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1306	$2817
🏠 One person rent	$147	$818
🏘️ Family rent	$239	$1403
🍽️ Food expenses	$210	$368
🚐 Transport expenses	$98.2	$43.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$239	$988
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	23	7
😀 Quality of life	30	66
🏙️ Population	800K	133K

The cost of living in Blantyre is 62% less expensive than in Male. Cities ranked 8632nd and 4439th ($506 vs $1320) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 2nd in Malawi and Maldives, respectively. Check Malawi vs Maldives comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Blantyre compared to 0.7 months in Male. Blantyre ranked 1st best city to live in Malawi vs Male ranked 1st in Maldives, while ranked 8786th and 5057th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Blantyre vs Male infographic

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Prices in Blantyre vs Male

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

	Blantyre	Male
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.97	$5.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$12.6	$29.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.69	$9.82
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1	$4.77
☕ Cappuccino	$2.02	$3.29
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.82	$1.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$176	$870
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$81.2	$609
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$322	$1575
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$145	$1116
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$21.9	$75
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$33.4	$114
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.2	$81.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.77%	14%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10537	$2585
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$393	$1897
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.85	$0.65
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$14.9	$29.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.1	$17.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.2	$0.93
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$1.85
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.94	$1.59
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.37	$1.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$9.08
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.58	$6.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.17	$8.98
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$4.03
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$3.83
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$4.35
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$3.26
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$1.53
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.22
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.35
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.72	$1.97
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.49	$8.87
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$2.96
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.88	$13
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.45	$5.39
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.28	$3.83
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.73	$3.18
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.69	$1.81
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.7	$80.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$1.44	$9.82
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$16.9	$23.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.96	$4.39
👖 Brand Jeans	$34	$42.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$59.1	$90.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$357	$166
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$589	$3575

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 Male

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.4 km or 3.4 mi	Hulhumale	$1445
610 km or 379 mi	Thiruvananthapuram	$344
618 km or 384 mi	Varkala	$308
621 km or 386 mi	Nagercoil	$279
624 km or 388 mi	Kollam	$253
687 km or 427 mi	Tirunelveli	$270
688 km or 428 mi	Kottayam	$300
713 km or 443 mi	Kochi	$382
714 km or 444 mi	Ernakulam	$351
724 km or 450 mi	Thoothukudi	$296
761 km or 473 mi	Beruwala	$590
763 km or 474 mi	Colombo	$646
766 km or 476 mi	Thrissur	$356
771 km or 479 mi	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	$626
772 km or 479 mi	Galle	$512
777 km or 483 mi	Negombo	$469
788 km or 490 mi	Gampaha	$420
803 km or 499 mi	Matara	$479
814 km or 506 mi	Malappuram	$286
817 km or 507 mi	Madurai	$347
825 km or 513 mi	Kozhikode	$321
843 km or 524 mi	Dindigul	$310
849 km or 528 mi	Coimbatore	$326
862 km or 535 mi	Kandy	$440
879 km or 546 mi	Kannur	$317
892 km or 554 mi	Anuradhapura	$535
899 km or 559 mi	Tiruppur	$347
922 km or 573 mi	Erode	$286
935 km or 581 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$300
964 km or 599 mi	Thanjavur	$275
968 km or 602 mi	Mysore	$346
977 km or 607 mi	Salem	$295
979 km or 608 mi	Mangalore	$400
983 km or 611 mi	Trincomalee	$530
1027 km or 638 mi	Udupi	$283
1076 km or 669 mi	Bangalore	$524
1087 km or 675 mi	Cuddalore	$300
1093 km or 679 mi	Tumkur	$355
1106 km or 688 mi	Shimoga	$340
1108 km or 688 mi	Pondicherry	$327