Blantyre vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Blantyre	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$506	$984
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1306	$1812
🏠 One person rent	$147	$567
🏘️ Family rent	$239	$581
🍽️ Food expenses	$210	$247
🚐 Transport expenses	$98.2	$104
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$239	$1672
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	23	63
😀 Quality of life	30	45
🏙️ Population	800K	1.27M

The cost of living in Blantyre is 49% less expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 8632nd and 5704th ($506 vs $984) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 7th in Malawi and South Africa, respectively. Check Malawi vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Blantyre compared to 1.7 months in Soweto. Blantyre ranked 1st best city to live in Malawi vs Soweto ranked 9th in South Africa, while ranked 8786th and 7050th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Blantyre vs Soweto infographic

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Prices in Blantyre vs Soweto

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

	Blantyre	Soweto
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.97	$6.53
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$12.6	$28.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.69	$4.24
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1	$2
☕ Cappuccino	$2.02	$2.14
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.82	$1.07
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$176	$867
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$81.2	$362
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$322	$538
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$145	$415
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$21.9	$69.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$33.4	$108
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.2	$33.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.77%	11.64%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10537	$907
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$393	$724
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.85	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$14.9	$32.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.1	$11.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.2	$1.2
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$1.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.94	$0.96
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.37	$2.62
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$8.24
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.58	$4.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.17	$6.66
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$1.56
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$1.55
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$1.31
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.2
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.72	$1.21
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.49	$7.85
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$1.65
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.88	$2.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.45	$2.99
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.28	$2.57
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.73	$1.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.69	$0.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.7	$13.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$1.44	$6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$16.9	$21.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.96	$3.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$34	$49.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$59.1	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$357	$202
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$589	$3811

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 Soweto

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
24 km or 15 mi	Randburg	$890
26 km or 16 mi	Sandton	$984
46 km or 28 mi	Vereeniging	$706
46 km or 29 mi	Benoni	$826
48 km or 30 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
56 km or 34 mi	Centurion	$892
58 km or 36 mi	Springs	$740
66 km or 41 mi	Pretoria	$975
73 km or 45 mi	Brits	$875
91 km or 56 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
92 km or 57 mi	Rustenburg	$940
137 km or 85 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
159 km or 99 mi	Bethal	$838
166 km or 103 mi	Kroonstad	$808
170 km or 106 mi	Middelburg	$830
222 km or 138 mi	Welkom	$762
228 km or 142 mi	Mmabatho	$833
249 km or 155 mi	Lobatse	$637
266 km or 165 mi	Gaborone	$668
282 km or 175 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
290 km or 180 mi	Kanye	$637
315 km or 196 mi	Molepolole	$607
321 km or 199 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
329 km or 204 mi	Mbabane	$599
335 km or 208 mi	Vryheid	$827
341 km or 212 mi	Maseru	$650
350 km or 217 mi	Manzini	$469
354 km or 220 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
367 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$577
399 km or 248 mi	Mafeteng	$598
412 km or 256 mi	Kimberley	$861
420 km or 261 mi	Palapye	$514
446 km or 277 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
447 km or 278 mi	Serowe	$536
461 km or 286 mi	Matola	$908
472 km or 293 mi	Maputo	$915
506 km or 314 mi	Durban	$892
567 km or 353 mi	Francistown	$587
595 km or 370 mi	Xai-Xai	$915