Bucharest vs Lusaka - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Bucharest	Lusaka
🚶 Cost of living one person	$988	$738
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2566	$2249
🏠 One person rent	$474	$312
🏘️ Family rent	$877	$948
🍽️ Food expenses	$339	$239
🚐 Transport expenses	$67.6	$127
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1247	$333
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	77	37
😀 Quality of life	79	49
🏙️ Population	1.72M	2.47M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 34% more expensive than in Lusaka. Cities ranked 5565th and 6726th ($988 vs $738) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 6th in Romania and Zambia, respectively. Check Romania vs Zambia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Bucharest compared to 0.5 months in Lusaka. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Lusaka ranked 1st in Zambia, while ranked 645th and 6269th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Bucharest vs Lusaka infographic

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Prices in Bucharest vs Lusaka

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

	Bucharest	Lusaka
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.5	$6.95
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$44.7	$27
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.25	$3.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$0.91
☕ Cappuccino	$3.01	$2.02
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.09	$0.64
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$520	$194
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$337	$109
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$999	$1082
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$658	$641
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$90.8	$60.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$141	$94.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.28	$125
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.1%	21.29%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3094	$2003
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1793	$4875
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.63	$1.23
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$17.3	$36.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.57	$12
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.52	$1.22
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$1.34
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.98	$0.75
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.7
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.05	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.55	$7.27
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.56	$3.63
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.9	$4.83
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$2.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.42
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$2.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.15
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.94	$1.98
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.41
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.57	$0.34
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.01	$0.97
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.28	$6.86
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.12	$1.09
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.84	$2.37
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.38	$4.66
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.93	$2.39
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.61	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.03	$1.07
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.7	$44.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.92	$4.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$51.8	$12.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$4.45
👖 Brand Jeans	$72.9	$18.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$84	$89.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$569	$176
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11573	$9642

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Bucharest

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.3 mi	Voluntari	$867
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$847
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$796
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$633
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$704
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$629
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$729
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$696
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$722
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$743
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$623
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$622
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$938
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$731
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$770
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$594
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$680
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$702
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$752
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$741
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$848
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$598
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$786
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$631
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$892
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$929
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1002
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$546
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$698
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$646
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$837
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$718
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$812
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$725
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$574
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$721
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$687
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$650
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$605
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$758

Cities near Lusaka

Distance	City	Cost of living
166 km or 103 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$687
209 km or 130 mi	Choma	$700
275 km or 171 mi	Ndola	$541
289 km or 179 mi	Kitwe	$917
297 km or 184 mi	Chinhoyi	$646
318 km or 198 mi	Mufulira	$1018
322 km or 200 mi	Chingola	$875
370 km or 230 mi	Kadoma	$723
373 km or 232 mi	Livingstone	$688
399 km or 248 mi	Harare	$992
411 km or 255 mi	Chitungwiza	$873
426 km or 265 mi	Lubumbashi	$1050
429 km or 267 mi	Kwekwe	$730
464 km or 288 mi	Marondera	$794
475 km or 295 mi	Mansa	$776
478 km or 297 mi	Gweru	$597
521 km or 324 mi	Likasi	$961
529 km or 329 mi	Bulawayo	$766
574 km or 356 mi	Tete	$825
584 km or 363 mi	Masvingo	$854
605 km or 376 mi	Kolwezi	$975
611 km or 380 mi	Mutare	$752
613 km or 381 mi	Lilongwe	$587
645 km or 401 mi	Francistown	$624
658 km or 409 mi	Kasama	$748
686 km or 426 mi	Chimoio	$947
688 km or 428 mi	Ntcheu	$492
694 km or 431 mi	Mzimba	$566
721 km or 448 mi	Blantyre	$507
729 km or 453 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
756 km or 470 mi	Zomba	$457
757 km or 471 mi	Mangochi	$493
762 km or 474 mi	Mzuzu	$525
775 km or 482 mi	Mulanje	$461
792 km or 492 mi	Serowe	$583
802 km or 499 mi	Palapye	$540
852 km or 529 mi	Beira	$1003
869 km or 540 mi	Mahalapye	$631
917 km or 570 mi	Mbeya	$461
956 km or 594 mi	Quelimane	$675