Gaborone vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Gaborone	Lilongwe
🚶 Cost of living one person	$656	$367
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1745	$904
🏠 One person rent	$267	$147
🏘️ Family rent	$554	$237
🍽️ Food expenses	$271	$141
🚐 Transport expenses	$57.4	$42.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$460	$306
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	39	13
😀 Quality of life	55	26
🏙️ Population	246K	989K

The cost of living in Gaborone is 79% more expensive than in Lilongwe. Cities ranked 7144th and 9038th ($656 vs $367) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Botswana and Malawi, respectively. Check Botswana vs Malawi comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Gaborone compared to 0.8 months in Lilongwe. Gaborone ranked 1st best city to live in Botswana vs Lilongwe ranked 2nd in Malawi, while ranked 5959th and 8741st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Gaborone vs Lilongwe 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/gaborone/lilongwe.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Gaborone vs Lilongwe infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/gaborone/lilongwe" target="_blank">Gaborone vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Gaborone vs Lilongwe

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

	Gaborone	Lilongwe
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.7	$2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$29.2	$17.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.24	$2.2
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.75	$0.78
☕ Cappuccino	$2.15	$1.74
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.76	$0.62
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$197	$228
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$133	$75.5
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$524	$277
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$392	$168
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$26.9	$10.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$41.7	$16.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$93.6	$31.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.18%	14.98%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1102	$9504
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$967	$356
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.51	$0.59
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22	$8.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18	$5.44
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.08	$0.99
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.17	$0.83
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.79	$0.69
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$0.8
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.89	$1.77
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.84	$7.91
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.02	$1.92
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.72	$3.26
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$1.46
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$0.93
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$2.09
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.27	$0.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$1.13
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$0.9
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.54	$0.18
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.37	$0.58
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.5	$7.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.67	$0.68
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.96	$0.88
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$1.73
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.39	$1.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.52	$0.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.94	$0.71
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36	$21.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.85	$3.06
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$19.1	$12.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.58	$1.78
👖 Brand Jeans	$39.3	$25
👟 Brand Sneakers	$52.2	$32.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$175	$217
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5329	$1424

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	$603
67 km or 42 mi	Lobatse	$631
67 km or 42 mi	Kanye	$633
136 km or 84 mi	Mmabatho	$719
174 km or 108 mi	Rustenburg	$845
196 km or 122 mi	Mahalapye	$605
215 km or 134 mi	Brits	$751
257 km or 160 mi	Klerksdorp	$621
258 km or 160 mi	Potchefstroom	$625
259 km or 161 mi	Pretoria	$783
264 km or 164 mi	Randburg	$776
265 km or 165 mi	Palapye	$511
266 km or 165 mi	Centurion	$755
266 km or 165 mi	Soweto	$875
266 km or 165 mi	Serowe	$554
269 km or 167 mi	Sandton	$889
275 km or 171 mi	Johannesburg	$908
296 km or 184 mi	Benoni	$741
298 km or 185 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$698
302 km or 188 mi	Vereeniging	$637
310 km or 193 mi	Springs	$631
358 km or 222 mi	Kroonstad	$701
379 km or 235 mi	Welkom	$682
380 km or 236 mi	Middelburg	$866
407 km or 253 mi	Bethal	$746
421 km or 261 mi	Francistown	$550
468 km or 291 mi	Kimberley	$753
495 km or 308 mi	Bloemfontein	$601
514 km or 319 mi	Butha-Buthe	$511
531 km or 330 mi	Teyateyaneng	$511
540 km or 336 mi	Maseru	$535
559 km or 347 mi	Mbabane	$558
569 km or 354 mi	Bulawayo	$777
584 km or 363 mi	Manzini	$447
589 km or 366 mi	Mafeteng	$511
597 km or 371 mi	Vryheid	$739
628 km or 390 mi	Upington	$643
675 km or 419 mi	Matola	$978
685 km or 425 mi	Maputo	$1084
705 km or 438 mi	Gweru	$722

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$335
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$332
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$332
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$326
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$337
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$363
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$970
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$338
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$327
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$1176
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$957
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$761
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$852
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$784
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$992
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$968
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$457
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$645
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$1210
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$993
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$1165
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$777
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$1121
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$1238
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1236
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$689
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$1107
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$1014
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$691
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1025
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1144
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$722
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1127
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$837
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$795
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$953
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$777
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$581
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$600
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$734