Cape Town vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Cape Town	Lilongwe
🚶 Cost of living one person	$881	$367
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2144	$904
🏠 One person rent	$484	$147
🏘️ Family rent	$966	$237
🍽️ Food expenses	$259	$141
🚐 Transport expenses	$56.2	$42.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1518	$306
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	55	13
😀 Quality of life	60	26
🏙️ Population	434K	989K

The cost of living in Cape Town is 140% more expensive than in Lilongwe. Cities ranked 6078th and 9038th ($881 vs $367) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in South Africa and Malawi, respectively. Check South Africa vs Malawi comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Cape Town compared to 0.8 months in Lilongwe. Cape Town ranked 3rd best city to live in South Africa vs Lilongwe ranked 2nd in Malawi, while ranked 5406th and 8741st among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Cape Town vs Lilongwe infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Lilongwe

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

	Cape Town	Lilongwe
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.47	$2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$31.2	$17.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$2.2
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.04	$0.78
☕ Cappuccino	$1.94	$1.74
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.86	$0.62
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$536	$228
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$353	$75.5
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1202	$277
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$749	$168
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$56.2	$10.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87	$16.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.2	$31.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	14.98%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1890	$9504
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1307	$356
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.04	$0.59
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$34.8	$8.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.17	$5.44
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.22	$0.99
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1	$0.83
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.92	$0.69
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$0.8
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.39	$1.77
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.96	$7.91
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.26	$1.92
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.2	$3.26
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.46
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.46	$0.93
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$2.09
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$0.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.13
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$0.9
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.58	$0.18
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.3	$0.58
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$4.51	$7.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$0.68
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.62	$0.88
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.8	$1.73
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.76	$1.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.22	$0.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.36	$0.71
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$31.3	$21.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.42	$3.06
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$32.9	$12.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.3	$1.78
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.7	$25
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.4	$32.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$172	$217
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4013	$1424

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cape Town

Distance	City	Cost of living
54 km or 33 mi	Paarl	$773
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$632
371 km or 231 mi	George	$684
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$805
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$866
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$643
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$704
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$703
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$753
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$710
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$683
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$601
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$511
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$535
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$689
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$511
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$682
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$765
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$511
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$701
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$621
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$719
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$625
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$738
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$631
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$633
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$698
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$637
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$609
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$875
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$845
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$656
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$603
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$908
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$776
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$807
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$889
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$780
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$751
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$718

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$335
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$332
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$332
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$326
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$337
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$363
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$970
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$338
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$327
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$1176
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$957
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$761
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$852
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$784
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$992
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$968
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$457
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$645
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$1210
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$993
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$1165
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$777
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$1121
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$1238
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1236
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$689
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$1107
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$1014
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$691
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1025
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1144
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$722
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1127
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$837
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$795
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$953
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$777
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$581
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$600
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$734