Dar es Salaam vs Freetown - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Dar es Salaam	Freetown
🚶 Cost of living one person	$811	$1346
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2062	$1679
🏠 One person rent	$423	$980
🏘️ Family rent	$748	$655
🍽️ Food expenses	$225	$255
🚐 Transport expenses	$106	$69
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$323	$1273
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	15 km
🎓 Higher education	44	23
😀 Quality of life	41	37
🏙️ Population	4.72M	951K

The cost of living in Dar es Salaam is 40% less expensive than in Freetown. Cities ranked 6399th and 4063rd ($811 vs $1346) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Tanzania and Sierra Leone, respectively. Check Tanzania vs Sierra Leone comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Dar es Salaam compared to 0.9 months in Freetown. Dar es Salaam ranked 1st best city to live in Tanzania vs Freetown ranked 1st in Sierra Leone, while ranked 6871st and 7302nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Dar es Salaam vs Freetown infographic

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/dar-es-salaam/freetown.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Dar es Salaam vs Freetown infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/dar-es-salaam/freetown" target="_blank">Dar es Salaam vs Freetown - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Dar es Salaam vs Freetown

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

	Dar es Salaam	Freetown
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.93	$2.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$20.1	$24.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.15	$7.28
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$1.21
☕ Cappuccino	$2.04	$1.66
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.4	$1.04
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$427	$866
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$325	$801
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1029	$1547
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$551	$170
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$44.9	$80.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68.6	$124
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$33	$85.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	19.47%	12.25%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3163	$1087
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5427	$1072
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.29	$0.46
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$18.1	$18.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.2	$10.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.18	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$1.93
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.71	$0.41
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.99	$0.73
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.76	$1.72
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.55	$6.91
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.06	$6.12
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.28	$3.52
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.67	$3.12
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$2.02
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$0.71
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$3.65
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$1.71
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$1.63
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.28	$0.94
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.26	$1.08
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.83	$5.82
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.88	$2.44
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.14	$1.51
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.76	$1.19
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.24	$0.78
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.96	$0.8
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$77.9	$40.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.94	$1.66
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17.2	$12.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.84	$2.91
👖 Brand Jeans	$21.5	$10
👟 Brand Sneakers	$39.3	$60.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$312	$82.4
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19371	$2773

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dar es Salaam

Distance	City	Cost of living
71 km or 44 mi	Zanzibar	$552
71 km or 44 mi	Stone Town	$523
179 km or 111 mi	Morogoro	$486
194 km or 120 mi	Tanga	$545
309 km or 192 mi	Mombasa	$580
395 km or 246 mi	Dodoma	$502
409 km or 254 mi	Malindi	$498
441 km or 274 mi	Moshi	$561
478 km or 297 mi	Arusha	$638
629 km or 391 mi	Machakos	$408
671 km or 417 mi	Nairobi	$760
684 km or 425 mi	Mbeya	$461
684 km or 425 mi	Thika	$589
698 km or 434 mi	Moroni	$1105
700 km or 435 mi	Pemba	$1506
774 km or 481 mi	Mzuzu	$525
783 km or 486 mi	Meru	$541
808 km or 502 mi	Nakuru	$500
836 km or 520 mi	Domoni	$1100
843 km or 524 mi	Mzimba	$566
853 km or 530 mi	Mwanza	$625
864 km or 537 mi	Nacala	$1150
899 km or 559 mi	Kisumu	$522
925 km or 575 mi	Nampula	$872
927 km or 576 mi	Eldoret	$483
931 km or 578 mi	Mamoudzou	$1465
938 km or 583 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
955 km or 594 mi	Mumias	$490
959 km or 596 mi	Mangochi	$493
969 km or 602 mi	Kasama	$748
1000 km or 621 mi	Lilongwe	$587
1007 km or 626 mi	Tororo	$602
1026 km or 637 mi	Ntcheu	$492
1044 km or 648 mi	Mbale	$605
1047 km or 651 mi	Zomba	$457
1049 km or 652 mi	Jinja	$562
1067 km or 663 mi	Ruyigi	$648
1074 km or 667 mi	Entebbe	$558
1076 km or 668 mi	Rutana	$648
1084 km or 674 mi	Muyinga	$650

Cities near Freetown

Distance	City	Cost of living
126 km or 78 mi	Conakry	$1061
137 km or 85 mi	Forecariah	$998
174 km or 108 mi	Bo	$1278
207 km or 128 mi	Boffa	$998
235 km or 146 mi	Kenema	$1272
246 km or 153 mi	Mamou	$1019
341 km or 212 mi	Gueckedou	$1009
361 km or 224 mi	Monrovia	$523
385 km or 239 mi	Kakata	$487
439 km or 273 mi	Bafata	$804
456 km or 283 mi	Bissau	$827
480 km or 298 mi	Kankan	$1007
493 km or 306 mi	Nzerekore	$999
514 km or 319 mi	Sanniquellie	$487
525 km or 326 mi	Kolda	$964
527 km or 327 mi	Yekepa	$487
564 km or 350 mi	Ziguinchor	$953
603 km or 375 mi	Greenville	$487
650 km or 404 mi	Brikama	$552
660 km or 410 mi	Lamin	$507
662 km or 412 mi	Banjul	$477
701 km or 436 mi	Kaolack	$1000
709 km or 441 mi	Bougouni	$489
736 km or 457 mi	Fatick	$998
736 km or 458 mi	Bamako	$569
788 km or 490 mi	Koulikoro	$490
807 km or 502 mi	Thies	$1052
821 km or 510 mi	Rufisque	$1046
833 km or 518 mi	Dakar	$1114
842 km or 523 mi	Korhogo	$916
846 km or 526 mi	Banamba	$491
846 km or 526 mi	Gagnoa	$904
857 km or 532 mi	Louga	$970
887 km or 551 mi	Sikasso	$499
896 km or 557 mi	Yamoussoukro	$887
907 km or 564 mi	Bouake	$937
911 km or 566 mi	Saint-Louis	$960
917 km or 570 mi	Divo	$906
935 km or 581 mi	Rosso	$647
940 km or 584 mi	Segou	$490