Dar es Salaam vs Mbabane - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Dar es Salaam	Mbabane
🚶 Cost of living one person	$799	$599
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2068	$1449
🏠 One person rent	$363	$261
🏘️ Family rent	$605	$433
🍽️ Food expenses	$244	$216
🚐 Transport expenses	$130	$58.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$288	$352
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	45	16
😀 Quality of life	59	42
🏙️ Population	4.72M	60.7K

The cost of living in Dar es Salaam is 33% more expensive than in Mbabane. Cities ranked 6675th and 7826th ($799 vs $599) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Tanzania and Eswatini, respectively. Check Tanzania vs Eswatini comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Dar es Salaam compared to 0.6 months in Mbabane. Dar es Salaam ranked 1st best city to live in Tanzania vs Mbabane ranked 1st in Eswatini, while ranked 6017th and 7530th 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 Mbabane 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/mbabane.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Dar es Salaam vs Mbabane infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/dar-es-salaam/mbabane" target="_blank">Dar es Salaam vs Mbabane - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Dar es Salaam vs Mbabane

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

	Dar es Salaam	Mbabane
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.25	$3.13
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$19.3	$30.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.3	$2.39
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$1.88
☕ Cappuccino	$2.09	$1.98
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$0.96
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$419	$240
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$235	$169
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$737	$443
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$422	$302
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$55.2	$48.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.4	$73.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$36.1	$28.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	19.82%	11.65%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1361	$348
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1189	$258
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.27	$1.16
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$15.8	$30.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.8	$26.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$1.21
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.13	$1.09
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.82	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.19	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.15	$1.73
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.75	$9.16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.96	$5.13
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.42	$5.35
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.73	$1.55
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$0.75
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$0.96
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$1.44
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$1.06
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.29
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.32	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.3	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.7	$5.73
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.98	$1.5
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.14	$2.67
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.29	$4.25
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$3.17
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.28	$1.55
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1	$1.32
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$87.5	$29
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.52	$3.76
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17.8	$18.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.61	$4.34
👖 Brand Jeans	$22.3	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$40.7	$75.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$435	$110
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17749	$4704

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dar es Salaam

Distance	City	Cost of living
71 km or 44 mi	Zanzibar	$609
71 km or 44 mi	Stone Town	$567
179 km or 111 mi	Morogoro	$421
194 km or 120 mi	Tanga	$552
309 km or 192 mi	Mombasa	$596
395 km or 246 mi	Dodoma	$526
409 km or 254 mi	Malindi	$548
441 km or 274 mi	Moshi	$533
478 km or 297 mi	Arusha	$612
629 km or 391 mi	Machakos	$420
671 km or 417 mi	Nairobi	$811
684 km or 425 mi	Mbeya	$495
684 km or 425 mi	Thika	$460
698 km or 434 mi	Moroni	$1207
700 km or 435 mi	Pemba	$1511
774 km or 481 mi	Mzuzu	$527
783 km or 486 mi	Meru	$549
808 km or 502 mi	Nakuru	$503
836 km or 520 mi	Domoni	$1207
843 km or 524 mi	Mzimba	$565
853 km or 530 mi	Mwanza	$656
864 km or 537 mi	Nacala	$1168
899 km or 559 mi	Kisumu	$543
925 km or 575 mi	Nampula	$935
927 km or 576 mi	Eldoret	$528
931 km or 578 mi	Mamoudzou	$1624
938 km or 583 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
955 km or 594 mi	Mumias	$511
959 km or 596 mi	Mangochi	$496
969 km or 602 mi	Kasama	$888
1000 km or 621 mi	Lilongwe	$592
1007 km or 626 mi	Tororo	$623
1026 km or 637 mi	Ntcheu	$493
1044 km or 648 mi	Mbale	$654
1047 km or 651 mi	Zomba	$458
1049 km or 652 mi	Jinja	$582
1067 km or 663 mi	Ruyigi	$687
1074 km or 667 mi	Entebbe	$578
1076 km or 668 mi	Rutana	$688
1084 km or 674 mi	Muyinga	$687

Cities near Mbabane

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Manzini	$469
136 km or 85 mi	Matola	$908
148 km or 92 mi	Maputo	$915
165 km or 103 mi	Vryheid	$827
171 km or 106 mi	Bethal	$838
179 km or 111 mi	Middelburg	$830
271 km or 168 mi	Springs	$740
284 km or 176 mi	Benoni	$826
287 km or 178 mi	Xai-Xai	$915
301 km or 187 mi	Centurion	$892
304 km or 189 mi	Pretoria	$975
311 km or 193 mi	Sandton	$984
311 km or 193 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
316 km or 196 mi	Randburg	$890
324 km or 201 mi	Vereeniging	$706
329 km or 204 mi	Soweto	$984
334 km or 207 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
348 km or 216 mi	Brits	$875
370 km or 230 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
394 km or 245 mi	Durban	$892
398 km or 247 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
399 km or 248 mi	Rustenburg	$940
406 km or 252 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
416 km or 259 mi	Kroonstad	$808
451 km or 280 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
461 km or 287 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
477 km or 296 mi	Welkom	$762
491 km or 305 mi	Maseru	$650
546 km or 339 mi	Mafeteng	$598
555 km or 345 mi	Mmabatho	$833
559 km or 347 mi	Gaborone	$668
564 km or 350 mi	Lobatse	$637
566 km or 352 mi	Mahalapye	$577
576 km or 358 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
585 km or 363 mi	Palapye	$514
601 km or 374 mi	Kanye	$637
608 km or 378 mi	Molepolole	$607
628 km or 390 mi	Serowe	$536
628 km or 390 mi	Mthatha	$901
682 km or 424 mi	Francistown	$587