Edinburgh vs Lusaka - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Edinburgh	Lusaka
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2310	$655
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5713	$1696
🏠 One person rent	$1359	$218
🏘️ Family rent	$2393	$350
🍽️ Food expenses	$594	$251
🚐 Transport expenses	$166	$127
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3676	$98
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	88	36
😀 Quality of life	95	50
🏙️ Population	488K	2.47M

The cost of living in Edinburgh is 253% more expensive than in Lusaka. Cities ranked 1247th and 7398th ($2310 vs $655) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 32nd and 8th in the United Kingdom and Zambia, respectively. Check the United Kingdom vs Zambia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Edinburgh compared to 0.1 months in Lusaka. Edinburgh ranked 5th best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Lusaka ranked 1st in Zambia, while ranked 59th and 6625th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Edinburgh vs Lusaka infographic

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Prices in Edinburgh vs Lusaka

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

	Edinburgh	Lusaka
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.6	$7.48
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$89.8	$25.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10	$3.82
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.41	$0.98
☕ Cappuccino	$5.01	$2.03
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.68	$0.62
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1388	$204
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1053	$112
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2488	$374
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1942	$206
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$198	$42.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$300	$64.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.3	$45.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.08%	25.21%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6892	$2016
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4820	$4812
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.91	$0.99
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$88.4	$38.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$27.7	$11.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.89	$1.22
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.71	$1.33
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.72	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.92	$1.56
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.63	$1.76
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.3	$7.48
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$3.95
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.5	$4.57
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.05	$2.69
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.58	$2.68
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.4	$1.1
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.67	$1.94
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.49
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.07	$0.35
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.31	$1.24
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.4	$6.82
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.57	$0.97
🚬 Cigarette pack	$19.9	$3.68
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.11	$5.88
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.69	$2.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.26	$1.46
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.63	$1.36
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$50	$50.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.7	$4.17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$112	$14.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$22.5	$5.62
👖 Brand Jeans	$115	$18.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$73.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1932	$177
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$23184	$11593

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	$1768
21 km or 13 mi	Livingston	$1775
21 km or 13 mi	Dunfermline	$1728
42 km or 26 mi	Alloa	$1762
49 km or 30 mi	Cumbernauld	$1619
49 km or 31 mi	Stirling	$1711
52 km or 32 mi	Perth	$1641
56 km or 35 mi	Hamilton	$1797
59 km or 37 mi	Dundee	$1480
65 km or 40 mi	East Kilbride	$1840
66 km or 41 mi	Glasgow	$2058
78 km or 48 mi	Paisley	$1837
89 km or 56 mi	Kilmarnock	$1527
98 km or 61 mi	Greenock	$1575
99 km or 61 mi	Irvine	$1630
102 km or 63 mi	Dumfries	$1485
105 km or 65 mi	Ayr	$1522
120 km or 74 mi	Carlisle	$1759
147 km or 91 mi	Newcastle upon Tyne	$1963
149 km or 93 mi	Aberdeen	$1769
150 km or 93 mi	Gateshead	$1906
153 km or 95 mi	Tynemouth	$1805
153 km or 95 mi	Jarrow	$1825
154 km or 96 mi	South Shields	$1780
158 km or 98 mi	Washington	$1797
158 km or 98 mi	Whitehaven	$1778
164 km or 102 mi	Sunderland	$1602
166 km or 103 mi	Durham	$2079
173 km or 107 mi	Bishop Auckland	$1761
182 km or 113 mi	Inverness	$2021
189 km or 117 mi	Hartlepool	$1460
189 km or 117 mi	Elgin	$1507
190 km or 118 mi	Darlington	$1429
194 km or 121 mi	Stockton-on-Tees	$1431
197 km or 123 mi	Middlesbrough	$1638
211 km or 131 mi	Morecambe	$1840
212 km or 132 mi	Bangor	$1484
213 km or 132 mi	Lancaster	$1839
216 km or 134 mi	Douglas	$2205
224 km or 139 mi	Newtownabbey	$1808

Cities near Lusaka

Distance	City	Cost of living
166 km or 103 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$748
209 km or 130 mi	Choma	$687
275 km or 171 mi	Ndola	$577
289 km or 179 mi	Kitwe	$1062
297 km or 184 mi	Chinhoyi	$650
318 km or 198 mi	Mufulira	$1278
322 km or 200 mi	Chingola	$1069
370 km or 230 mi	Kadoma	$761
373 km or 232 mi	Livingstone	$653
399 km or 248 mi	Harare	$1021
411 km or 255 mi	Chitungwiza	$751
426 km or 265 mi	Lubumbashi	$1124
429 km or 267 mi	Kwekwe	$716
464 km or 288 mi	Marondera	$779
475 km or 295 mi	Mansa	$912
478 km or 297 mi	Gweru	$587
521 km or 324 mi	Likasi	$1032
529 km or 329 mi	Bulawayo	$658
574 km or 356 mi	Tete	$820
584 km or 363 mi	Masvingo	$873
605 km or 376 mi	Kolwezi	$1045
611 km or 380 mi	Mutare	$755
613 km or 381 mi	Lilongwe	$592
645 km or 401 mi	Francistown	$587
658 km or 409 mi	Kasama	$888
686 km or 426 mi	Chimoio	$916
688 km or 428 mi	Ntcheu	$493
694 km or 431 mi	Mzimba	$565
721 km or 448 mi	Blantyre	$506
729 km or 453 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
756 km or 470 mi	Zomba	$458
757 km or 471 mi	Mangochi	$496
762 km or 474 mi	Mzuzu	$527
775 km or 482 mi	Mulanje	$461
792 km or 492 mi	Serowe	$536
802 km or 499 mi	Palapye	$514
852 km or 529 mi	Beira	$996
869 km or 540 mi	Mahalapye	$577
917 km or 570 mi	Mbeya	$495
956 km or 594 mi	Quelimane	$692