Edinburgh vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Edinburgh	Lilongwe
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2140	$587
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5387	$1571
🏠 One person rent	$1269	$251
🏘️ Family rent	$2336	$555
🍽️ Food expenses	$530	$237
🚐 Transport expenses	$161	$51.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3522	$275
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	88	13
😀 Quality of life	94	20
🏙️ Population	488K	989K

The cost of living in Edinburgh is 264% more expensive than in Lilongwe. Cities ranked 1491st and 7807th ($2140 vs $587) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 36th and 1st in the United Kingdom and Malawi, respectively. Check the United Kingdom vs Malawi comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Edinburgh compared to 0.5 months in Lilongwe. Edinburgh ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Lilongwe ranked 4th in Malawi, while ranked 34th and 8847th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Edinburgh vs Lilongwe infographic

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Prices in Edinburgh vs Lilongwe

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

	Edinburgh	Lilongwe
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$17.4	$4.27
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.9	$24.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.21	$8.14
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.09	$1.37
☕ Cappuccino	$4.64	$2.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.55	$0.93
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1331	$373
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$970	$114
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2573	$362
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1865	$474
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$188	$34.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$291	$53.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.4	$50.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.75%	12.4%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6219	$10555
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4199	$588
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.54	$0.91
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$83	$11.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$27.8	$5.67
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.82	$1.35
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$0.95
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.69	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$1.29
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.14	$2.29
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.1	$13.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.87	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.2	$4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.87	$2.36
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.62	$1.49
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.38	$1.32
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$1.26
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$1.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.87	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.07	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.5	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.31	$0.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.9	$1.57
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.9	$2.11
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.45	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.07	$0.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.53	$0.68
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$50.2	$28.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.1	$4.17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$106	$17
💇 Haircut, simple	$21.5	$3.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$111	$23.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$106	$49.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1772	$349
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21911	$2351

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Edinburgh

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Kirkcaldy	$1610
21 km or 13 mi	Livingston	$1608
21 km or 13 mi	Dunfermline	$1692
42 km or 26 mi	Alloa	$1649
49 km or 30 mi	Cumbernauld	$1475
49 km or 31 mi	Stirling	$1604
52 km or 32 mi	Perth	$1500
56 km or 35 mi	Hamilton	$1699
59 km or 37 mi	Dundee	$1482
65 km or 40 mi	East Kilbride	$1763
66 km or 41 mi	Glasgow	$2011
78 km or 48 mi	Paisley	$1765
89 km or 56 mi	Kilmarnock	$1480
98 km or 61 mi	Greenock	$1601
99 km or 61 mi	Irvine	$1551
102 km or 63 mi	Dumfries	$1246
105 km or 65 mi	Ayr	$1404
120 km or 74 mi	Carlisle	$1567
147 km or 91 mi	Newcastle upon Tyne	$1726
149 km or 93 mi	Aberdeen	$1614
150 km or 93 mi	Gateshead	$1705
153 km or 95 mi	Tynemouth	$1638
153 km or 95 mi	Jarrow	$1651
154 km or 96 mi	South Shields	$1628
158 km or 98 mi	Washington	$1637
158 km or 98 mi	Whitehaven	$1732
164 km or 102 mi	Sunderland	$1510
166 km or 103 mi	Durham	$1707
173 km or 107 mi	Bishop Auckland	$1592
182 km or 113 mi	Inverness	$1722
189 km or 117 mi	Hartlepool	$1328
189 km or 117 mi	Elgin	$1393
190 km or 118 mi	Darlington	$1288
194 km or 121 mi	Stockton-on-Tees	$1377
197 km or 123 mi	Middlesbrough	$1500
211 km or 131 mi	Morecambe	$1714
212 km or 132 mi	Bangor	$1382
213 km or 132 mi	Lancaster	$1629
216 km or 134 mi	Douglas	$1968
224 km or 139 mi	Newtownabbey	$1692

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$492
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$493
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$457
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$566
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$507
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$825
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$525
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$461
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$748
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$992
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$794
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$873
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$646
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$675
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$687
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$461
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$752
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$541
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$947
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$872
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$738
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$776
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$917
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1018
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$723
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$875
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$1003
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$730
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1050
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1506
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$597
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1150
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$854
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$700
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$961
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$766
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$502
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$486
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$688