Gaborone vs Harare - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Gaborone	Harare
🚶 Cost of living one person	$668	$1021
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1648	$2475
🏠 One person rent	$243	$408
🏘️ Family rent	$391	$649
🍽️ Food expenses	$297	$352
🚐 Transport expenses	$62.1	$188
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$382	$230
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	39	37
😀 Quality of life	61	49
🏙️ Population	236K	2.15M

The cost of living in Gaborone is 35% less expensive than in Harare. Cities ranked 7301st and 5412th ($668 vs $1021) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Botswana and Zimbabwe, respectively. Check Botswana vs Zimbabwe comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Gaborone compared to 0.2 months in Harare. Gaborone ranked 1st best city to live in Botswana vs Harare ranked 1st in Zimbabwe, while ranked 5842nd and 6721st among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Gaborone vs Harare infographic

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Prices in Gaborone vs Harare

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

	Gaborone	Harare
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.79	$10.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$28.4	$49.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.66	$5.96
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.12	$1.49
☕ Cappuccino	$2.17	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.76	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$222	$366
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$137	$257
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$402	$662
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$249	$459
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$39.5	$36.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$61.1	$56
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$49.7	$93.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.04%	14.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1000	$1147
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$994	$587
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.5	$0.99
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$29	$54.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.2	$21.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.08	$1.58
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.39	$1.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.82	$1
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$2.07
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.22	$2.13
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.45	$12.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.87	$6.83
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.22	$6.92
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$2.31
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.72
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$1.57
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$2.16
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.57	$0.68
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.34	$2.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$4.24	$8.03
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.48	$1.13
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.55	$1.34
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.5	$6.09
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.31	$5.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.51	$2.67
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.89	$1.6
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$30.5	$55.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.36	$10.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$18.1	$35.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.46	$7.17
👖 Brand Jeans	$43.2	$19.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$67.6	$34.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$138	$258
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3401	$8872

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Gaborone

Distance	City	Cost of living
50 km or 31 mi	Molepolole	$607
67 km or 42 mi	Lobatse	$637
67 km or 42 mi	Kanye	$637
136 km or 84 mi	Mmabatho	$833
174 km or 108 mi	Rustenburg	$940
196 km or 122 mi	Mahalapye	$577
215 km or 134 mi	Brits	$875
257 km or 160 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
258 km or 160 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
259 km or 161 mi	Pretoria	$975
264 km or 164 mi	Randburg	$890
265 km or 165 mi	Palapye	$514
266 km or 165 mi	Centurion	$892
266 km or 165 mi	Soweto	$984
266 km or 165 mi	Serowe	$536
269 km or 167 mi	Sandton	$984
275 km or 171 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
296 km or 184 mi	Benoni	$826
298 km or 185 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
302 km or 188 mi	Vereeniging	$706
310 km or 193 mi	Springs	$740
358 km or 222 mi	Kroonstad	$808
379 km or 235 mi	Welkom	$762
380 km or 236 mi	Middelburg	$830
407 km or 253 mi	Bethal	$838
421 km or 261 mi	Francistown	$587
468 km or 291 mi	Kimberley	$861
495 km or 308 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
514 km or 319 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
531 km or 330 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
540 km or 336 mi	Maseru	$650
559 km or 347 mi	Mbabane	$599
569 km or 354 mi	Bulawayo	$658
584 km or 363 mi	Manzini	$469
589 km or 366 mi	Mafeteng	$598
597 km or 371 mi	Vryheid	$827
628 km or 390 mi	Upington	$746
675 km or 419 mi	Matola	$908
685 km or 425 mi	Maputo	$915
705 km or 438 mi	Gweru	$587

Cities near Harare

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Chitungwiza	$751
66 km or 41 mi	Marondera	$779
105 km or 65 mi	Chinhoyi	$650
133 km or 83 mi	Kadoma	$761
165 km or 103 mi	Kwekwe	$716
213 km or 132 mi	Mutare	$755
223 km or 138 mi	Gweru	$587
251 km or 156 mi	Masvingo	$873
291 km or 181 mi	Chimoio	$916
328 km or 204 mi	Tete	$820
369 km or 229 mi	Bulawayo	$658
399 km or 248 mi	Lusaka	$655
447 km or 278 mi	Choma	$687
458 km or 284 mi	Beira	$996
478 km or 297 mi	Blantyre	$506
498 km or 309 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$748
510 km or 317 mi	Ntcheu	$493
514 km or 319 mi	Mulanje	$461
518 km or 322 mi	Lilongwe	$592
525 km or 326 mi	Francistown	$587
531 km or 330 mi	Zomba	$458
549 km or 341 mi	Livingstone	$653
584 km or 363 mi	Mangochi	$496
588 km or 365 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
599 km or 372 mi	Ndola	$577
618 km or 384 mi	Quelimane	$692
635 km or 394 mi	Kitwe	$1062
659 km or 409 mi	Mufulira	$1278
665 km or 413 mi	Palapye	$514
679 km or 422 mi	Serowe	$536
680 km or 422 mi	Chingola	$1069
714 km or 444 mi	Mzimba	$565
734 km or 456 mi	Mahalapye	$577
775 km or 482 mi	Mansa	$912
778 km or 484 mi	Mzuzu	$527
786 km or 489 mi	Lubumbashi	$1124
847 km or 526 mi	Xai-Xai	$915
847 km or 526 mi	Kasama	$888
892 km or 554 mi	Likasi	$1032
898 km or 558 mi	Middelburg	$830