Gaborone vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Gaborone	Lilongwe
🚶 Cost of living one person	$718	$582
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1866	$1336
🏠 One person rent	$285	$260
🏘️ Family rent	$562	$352
🍽️ Food expenses	$303	$216
🚐 Transport expenses	$62.2	$57.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$375	$278
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	39	13
😀 Quality of life	55	20
🏙️ Population	236K	989K

The cost of living in Gaborone is 23% more expensive than in Lilongwe. Cities ranked 6827th and 7990th ($718 vs $582) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Botswana and Malawi, respectively. Check Botswana vs Malawi comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Gaborone compared to 0.5 months in Lilongwe. Gaborone ranked 1st best city to live in Botswana vs Lilongwe ranked 4th in Malawi, while ranked 5800th and 8861st 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	$7.62	$3.23
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$30.5	$25.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.14	$3.86
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.28	$0.93
☕ Cappuccino	$2.42	$2.43
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.85	$0.92
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$235	$375
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$135	$113
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$580	$363
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$369	$202
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$37.7	$44.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$57.7	$68.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$92.5	$49.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.17%	12.6%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1023	$10490
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$938	$589
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.54	$0.93
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$24.8	$11.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.9	$6.99
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.15	$1.4
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.35	$1.22
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.82	$1.08
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.36	$2.56
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.92	$13.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.27	$3.05
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.27	$5.01
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$2.24
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.32
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$2.6
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$1.13
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.57
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$0.29
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.44	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$4.97	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.73	$0.95
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.75	$1.59
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.9	$2.13
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.73	$4.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.55	$0.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.13	$0.67
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.2	$33.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.83	$4.11
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$20	$17.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.83	$3.63
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.5	$23
👟 Brand Sneakers	$67	$49.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$197	$350
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3828	$2358

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	$654
67 km or 42 mi	Lobatse	$692
67 km or 42 mi	Kanye	$690
136 km or 84 mi	Mmabatho	$809
174 km or 108 mi	Rustenburg	$943
196 km or 122 mi	Mahalapye	$663
215 km or 134 mi	Brits	$848
257 km or 160 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
258 km or 160 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
259 km or 161 mi	Pretoria	$909
264 km or 164 mi	Randburg	$874
265 km or 165 mi	Palapye	$554
266 km or 165 mi	Centurion	$838
266 km or 165 mi	Soweto	$971
266 km or 165 mi	Serowe	$600
269 km or 167 mi	Sandton	$997
275 km or 171 mi	Johannesburg	$1079
296 km or 184 mi	Benoni	$822
298 km or 185 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
302 km or 188 mi	Vereeniging	$717
310 km or 193 mi	Springs	$696
358 km or 222 mi	Kroonstad	$788
379 km or 235 mi	Welkom	$774
380 km or 236 mi	Middelburg	$841
407 km or 253 mi	Bethal	$819
421 km or 261 mi	Francistown	$585
468 km or 291 mi	Kimberley	$859
495 km or 308 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
514 km or 319 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
531 km or 330 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
540 km or 336 mi	Maseru	$627
559 km or 347 mi	Mbabane	$623
569 km or 354 mi	Bulawayo	$756
584 km or 363 mi	Manzini	$459
589 km or 366 mi	Mafeteng	$581
597 km or 371 mi	Vryheid	$791
628 km or 390 mi	Upington	$741
675 km or 419 mi	Matola	$1003
685 km or 425 mi	Maputo	$1116
705 km or 438 mi	Gweru	$761

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$526
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$515
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$516
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$498
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$574
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$591
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$834
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$534
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$500
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$1079
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$1012
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$810
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$890
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$830
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$670
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$894
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$433
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$662
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$1139
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$953
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$1190
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$685
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$1017
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$1116
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1090
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$729
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$1028
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$1000
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$731
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1007
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1500
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$761
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1394
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$871
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$725
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$939
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$756
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$564
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$639
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$670