Cape Town vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Cape Town	Lilongwe
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1366	$591
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3099	$1409
🏠 One person rent	$773	$250
🏘️ Family rent	$1343	$382
🍽️ Food expenses	$355	$241
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$51.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$404	$121
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	55	14
😀 Quality of life	55	30
🏙️ Population	3.78M	989K

The cost of living in Cape Town is 131% more expensive than in Lilongwe. Cities ranked 4432nd and 8027th ($1366 vs $591) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd 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 0.3 months in Cape Town compared to 0.2 months in Lilongwe. Cape Town ranked 4th best city to live in South Africa vs Lilongwe ranked 3rd in Malawi, while ranked 6382nd and 8837th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/cape-town/lilongwe.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Cape Town vs Lilongwe infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/cape-town/lilongwe" target="_blank">Cape Town vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

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	$12.5	$4.25
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$49.7	$24.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.71	$8.08
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.13	$1.54
☕ Cappuccino	$2.42	$2.31
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.39	$1.43
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$874	$373
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$594	$112
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1556	$601
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1079	$198
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.1	$34.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$129	$52.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39	$50.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.25%	12.71%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2160	$9004
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1500	$506
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.16	$0.91
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$32.7	$11.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.46	$5.64
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.35
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.35	$1.05
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.21	$1.09
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$1.42
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.91	$2.28
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.29	$13.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.21	$3.28
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.46	$3.98
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$1.23
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.49
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$1.33
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.25
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$1.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.79	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.84	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.59	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.44	$1.74
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.94	$2.1
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.02	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$0.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.67	$0.66
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.6	$28.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.6	$4.53
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$39.1	$17.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.2	$3.64
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.9	$22.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$127	$48.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$264	$349
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5378	$2330

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	$1345
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$718
371 km or 231 mi	George	$927
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$980
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$1036
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$811
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$874
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$1050
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$927
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1419
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$795
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$763
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$630
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$681
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$952
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$573
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$826
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$986
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$604
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$875
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$826
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$901
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$791
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$934
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$697
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$694
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$865
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$765
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$716
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$1057
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$1017
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$731
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$662
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1171
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$958
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$1023
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$1089
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$948
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$968
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$905

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$521
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$495
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$496
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$458
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$530
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$505
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$828
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$527
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$461
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$1002
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$1024
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$768
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$770
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$639
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$692
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$815
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$469
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$764
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$613
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$924
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$935
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$686
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$1030
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$1189
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1473
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$754
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$1229
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$1000
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$706
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1133
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1521
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$577
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1181
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$861
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$750
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$1039
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$630
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$506
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$408
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$718