Gaborone vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Gaborone	Lilongwe
🚶 Cost of living one person	$691	$587
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1793	$1571
🏠 One person rent	$268	$251
🏘️ Family rent	$520	$555
🍽️ Food expenses	$287	$237
🚐 Transport expenses	$66	$51.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$373	$275
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	39	13
😀 Quality of life	56	20
🏙️ Population	236K	989K

The cost of living in Gaborone is 18% more expensive than in Lilongwe. Cities ranked 6941st and 7807th ($691 vs $587) 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 0.5 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 5825th and 8847th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Gaborone vs Lilongwe infographic

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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	$7.24	$4.27
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$29.1	$24.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.77	$8.14
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.19	$1.37
☕ Cappuccino	$2.19	$2.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.79	$0.93
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$223	$373
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$133	$114
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$537	$362
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$341	$474
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$41.7	$34.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$64.4	$53.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$75.6	$50.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.07%	12.4%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1028	$10555
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$949	$588
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.51	$0.91
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.3	$11.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.9	$5.67
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.08	$1.35
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.33	$0.95
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.79	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.29
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.23	$2.29
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.31	$13.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.83	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.4	$4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.68	$2.36
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$1.49
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.32
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.26
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$1.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.56	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.34	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.11	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.64	$0.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.65	$1.57
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$2.11
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.46	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.52	$0.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$0.68
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34	$28.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.49	$4.17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$19	$17
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.58	$3.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$41.1	$23.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$76.6	$49.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$171	$349
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4190	$2351

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	$628
67 km or 42 mi	Lobatse	$665
67 km or 42 mi	Kanye	$664
136 km or 84 mi	Mmabatho	$780
174 km or 108 mi	Rustenburg	$889
196 km or 122 mi	Mahalapye	$631
215 km or 134 mi	Brits	$820
257 km or 160 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
258 km or 160 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
259 km or 161 mi	Pretoria	$906
264 km or 164 mi	Randburg	$837
265 km or 165 mi	Palapye	$540
266 km or 165 mi	Centurion	$807
266 km or 165 mi	Soweto	$923
266 km or 165 mi	Serowe	$583
269 km or 167 mi	Sandton	$953
275 km or 171 mi	Johannesburg	$993
296 km or 184 mi	Benoni	$785
298 km or 185 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
302 km or 188 mi	Vereeniging	$672
310 km or 193 mi	Springs	$678
358 km or 222 mi	Kroonstad	$768
379 km or 235 mi	Welkom	$748
380 km or 236 mi	Middelburg	$795
407 km or 253 mi	Bethal	$784
421 km or 261 mi	Francistown	$624
468 km or 291 mi	Kimberley	$814
495 km or 308 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
514 km or 319 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
531 km or 330 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
540 km or 336 mi	Maseru	$621
559 km or 347 mi	Mbabane	$562
569 km or 354 mi	Bulawayo	$766
584 km or 363 mi	Manzini	$442
589 km or 366 mi	Mafeteng	$567
597 km or 371 mi	Vryheid	$763
628 km or 390 mi	Upington	$699
675 km or 419 mi	Matola	$964
685 km or 425 mi	Maputo	$1068
705 km or 438 mi	Gweru	$597

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