Blantyre vs Soweto - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Blantyre	Soweto
🚶 Cost of living one person	$591	$971
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1602	$1777
🏠 One person rent	$181	$568
🏘️ Family rent	$381	$574
🍽️ Food expenses	$220	$243
🚐 Transport expenses	$138	$92.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$604	$1724
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	29 km
🎓 Higher education	22	62
😀 Quality of life	27	39
🏙️ Population	1.9M	1.27M

The cost of living in Blantyre is 39% less expensive than in Soweto. Cities ranked 7882nd and 5883rd ($591 vs $971) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th in Malawi and South Africa, respectively. Check Malawi vs South Africa comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1 months in Blantyre compared to 1.8 months in Soweto. Blantyre ranked 1st best city to live in Malawi vs Soweto ranked 11th in South Africa, while ranked 8369th and 7063rd 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	$4.31	$6.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$15.5	$28
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.01	$4.09
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1	$2.03
☕ Cappuccino	$2.06	$2
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.86	$1.01
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$180	$883
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$123	$368
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$469	$544
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$285	$421
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$22.3	$61.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.6	$92.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$24.8	$35.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.65%	11.43%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10628	$917
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$406	$735
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.28	$2.22
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$15.1	$32.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.4	$8.62
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.85	$1.04
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.99	$0.99
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$1.29
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.3	$2.68
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.04	$7.79
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.75	$4.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.42	$6.47
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$1.63
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$1.53
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.57	$1.48
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.9	$1.53
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.32
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.54	$0.62
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.73	$1.23
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.66	$7.71
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.97	$1.52
🚬 Cigarette pack	$0.91	$2.72
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.48	$3.04
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.3	$2.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.73	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.7	$0.52
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.5	$13.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$1.43	$6.19
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$22
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.95	$3.15
👖 Brand Jeans	$35.6	$50.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$61.5	$74.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$378	$216
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$607	$4830

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	$498
60 km or 37 mi	Mulanje	$500
112 km or 70 mi	Ntcheu	$515
149 km or 92 mi	Mangochi	$516
157 km or 98 mi	Tete	$834
191 km or 119 mi	Monkey Bay	$526
240 km or 149 mi	Lilongwe	$582
307 km or 191 mi	Quelimane	$670
405 km or 252 mi	Chimoio	$953
432 km or 269 mi	Mutare	$662
450 km or 280 mi	Beira	$1000
454 km or 282 mi	Marondera	$810
458 km or 285 mi	Mzimba	$574
463 km or 287 mi	Nampula	$1190
478 km or 297 mi	Harare	$1012
487 km or 303 mi	Chitungwiza	$890
493 km or 307 mi	Mzuzu	$534
541 km or 336 mi	Chinhoyi	$830
611 km or 380 mi	Kadoma	$729
626 km or 389 mi	Nacala	$1394
637 km or 396 mi	Kwekwe	$731
650 km or 404 mi	Masvingo	$871
674 km or 419 mi	Pemba	$1500
685 km or 425 mi	Gweru	$761
708 km or 440 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$894
721 km or 448 mi	Lusaka	$685
746 km or 463 mi	Kasama	$1079
754 km or 469 mi	Ndola	$1139
784 km or 487 mi	Mbeya	$433
803 km or 499 mi	Kitwe	$1116
811 km or 504 mi	Mufulira	$1090
837 km or 520 mi	Mansa	$1017
837 km or 520 mi	Bulawayo	$756
849 km or 528 mi	Chingola	$1028
865 km or 537 mi	Choma	$725
935 km or 581 mi	Lubumbashi	$1007
991 km or 616 mi	Francistown	$585
999 km or 621 mi	Livingstone	$670
1000 km or 621 mi	Moroni	$1091
1038 km or 645 mi	Morogoro	$639

Cities near Soweto

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Johannesburg	$1079
24 km or 15 mi	Randburg	$874
26 km or 16 mi	Sandton	$997
46 km or 28 mi	Vereeniging	$717
46 km or 29 mi	Benoni	$822
48 km or 30 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
56 km or 34 mi	Centurion	$838
58 km or 36 mi	Springs	$696
66 km or 41 mi	Pretoria	$909
73 km or 45 mi	Brits	$848
91 km or 56 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
92 km or 57 mi	Rustenburg	$943
137 km or 85 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
159 km or 99 mi	Bethal	$819
166 km or 103 mi	Kroonstad	$788
170 km or 106 mi	Middelburg	$841
222 km or 138 mi	Welkom	$774
228 km or 142 mi	Mmabatho	$809
249 km or 155 mi	Lobatse	$692
266 km or 165 mi	Gaborone	$718
282 km or 175 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
290 km or 180 mi	Kanye	$690
315 km or 196 mi	Molepolole	$654
321 km or 199 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
329 km or 204 mi	Mbabane	$623
335 km or 208 mi	Vryheid	$791
341 km or 212 mi	Maseru	$627
350 km or 217 mi	Manzini	$459
354 km or 220 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
367 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$663
399 km or 248 mi	Mafeteng	$581
412 km or 256 mi	Kimberley	$859
420 km or 261 mi	Palapye	$554
446 km or 277 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
447 km or 278 mi	Serowe	$600
461 km or 286 mi	Matola	$1003
472 km or 293 mi	Maputo	$1116
506 km or 314 mi	Durban	$834
567 km or 353 mi	Francistown	$585
595 km or 370 mi	Xai-Xai	$1045