Cape Town vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Cape Town	Lilongwe
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1120	$582
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2628	$1336
🏠 One person rent	$603	$260
🏘️ Family rent	$1117	$352
🍽️ Food expenses	$284	$216
🚐 Transport expenses	$137	$57.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1545	$278
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	55	13
😀 Quality of life	59	20
🏙️ Population	3.78M	989K

The cost of living in Cape Town is 93% more expensive than in Lilongwe. Cities ranked 4849th and 7990th ($1120 vs $582) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 2nd in South Africa and Malawi, respectively. Check South Africa vs Malawi comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 0.5 months in Lilongwe. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Lilongwe ranked 4th in Malawi, while ranked 5407th and 8861st 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	$7.8	$3.23
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$34	$25.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$3.86
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.53	$0.93
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$2.43
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.04	$0.92
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$705	$375
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$452	$113
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1367	$363
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$889	$202
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59	$44.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91.3	$68.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.1	$49.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.61%	12.6%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1902	$10490
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1292	$589
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.14	$0.93
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$45.3	$11.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.91	$6.99
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.36	$1.4
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$1.22
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$1.08
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.67	$2.56
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.88	$13.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.96	$3.05
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.13	$5.01
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$2.24
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$1.32
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$2.6
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.13
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.57
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.66	$0.29
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.57	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.42	$0.95
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.99	$1.59
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.24	$2.13
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.42	$4.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.24	$0.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$0.67
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.2	$33.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.5	$4.11
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.2	$17.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$3.63
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.1	$23
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$49.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$201	$350
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4270	$2358

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	$850
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$649
371 km or 231 mi	George	$790
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$901
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$970
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$741
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$792
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$953
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$859
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1286
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$703
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$581
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$627
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$862
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$774
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$832
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$788
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$809
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$779
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$692
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$690
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$717
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$971
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$943
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$718
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$654
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$1079
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$874
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$840
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$997
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$834
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$818
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$790

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$526
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$515
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$516
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$498
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$574
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$591
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$834
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$534
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$500
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$1079
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$1012
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$810
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$890
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$830
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$670
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$894
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$433
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$662
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$1139
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$953
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$1190
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$685
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$1017
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$1116
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1090
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$729
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$1028
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$1000
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$731
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1007
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1500
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$761
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1394
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$871
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$725
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$939
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$756
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$564
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$639
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$670