Gaborone vs Meru - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Gaborone	Meru
🚶 Cost of living one person	$691	$541
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1793	$1478
🏠 One person rent	$268	$181
🏘️ Family rent	$520	$382
🍽️ Food expenses	$287	$266
🚐 Transport expenses	$66	$37.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$373	$433
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	69 km
🎓 Higher education	39	29
😀 Quality of life	56	27
🏙️ Population	236K	42.7K

The cost of living in Gaborone is 28% more expensive than in Meru. Cities ranked 6941st and 8317th ($691 vs $541) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 4th in Botswana and Kenya, respectively. Check Botswana vs Kenya comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Gaborone compared to 0.8 months in Meru. Gaborone ranked 1st best city to live in Botswana vs Meru ranked 9th in Kenya, while ranked 5825th and 8421st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Gaborone vs Meru

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

	Gaborone	Meru
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.24	$5.38
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$29.1	$38.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.77	$6.67
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.19	$2.32
☕ Cappuccino	$2.19	$2.3
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.79	$0.72
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$223	$199
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$133	$104
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$537	$516
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$341	$263
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$41.7	$20.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$64.4	$30.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$75.6	$37.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.07%	14.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1028	$1127
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$949	$1251
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.51	$0.87
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.3	$28.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.9	$14
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.08	$1.07
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.33	$0.93
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.79	$0.27
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.65
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.23	$1.54
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.31	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.83	$6.35
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.4	$4.98
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.68	$2.97
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$0.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$0.76
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$0.78
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.09
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$1.17
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.56	$0.26
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.34	$1.34
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.11	$12
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.64	$2.13
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.65	$3.07
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$2.56
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.46	$3.57
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.52	$1.17
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$1.14
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34	$34.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.49	$6.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$19	$20.5
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.58	$3.52
👖 Brand Jeans	$41.1	$19
👟 Brand Sneakers	$76.6	$59.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$171	$189
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4190	$8023

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

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 Meru

Distance	City	Cost of living
138 km or 85 mi	Thika	$589
175 km or 109 mi	Nairobi	$760
179 km or 111 mi	Machakos	$408
180 km or 112 mi	Nakuru	$500
268 km or 167 mi	Eldoret	$483
323 km or 201 mi	Kisumu	$522
354 km or 220 mi	Mumias	$490
378 km or 235 mi	Moshi	$561
392 km or 244 mi	Tororo	$602
395 km or 245 mi	Arusha	$638
403 km or 250 mi	Mbale	$605
455 km or 283 mi	Malindi	$498
496 km or 308 mi	Jinja	$562
508 km or 316 mi	Mombasa	$580
559 km or 347 mi	Kira Town	$646
564 km or 351 mi	Kampala	$698
577 km or 359 mi	Entebbe	$558
591 km or 367 mi	Tanga	$545
600 km or 373 mi	Mwanza	$625
666 km or 414 mi	Gulu	$594
712 km or 442 mi	Stone Town	$523
712 km or 443 mi	Zanzibar	$552
732 km or 455 mi	Dodoma	$502
749 km or 465 mi	Baidoa	$706
764 km or 475 mi	Morogoro	$486
783 km or 486 mi	Dar es Salaam	$811
784 km or 487 mi	Awasa	$886
819 km or 509 mi	Arua	$585
840 km or 522 mi	Bunia	$801
852 km or 529 mi	Jimma	$654
852 km or 530 mi	Kasese	$573
858 km or 533 mi	Juba	$513
862 km or 536 mi	Byumba	$613
873 km or 542 mi	Kigali	$771
875 km or 544 mi	Muyinga	$650
883 km or 549 mi	Mogadishu	$711
907 km or 563 mi	Ruhengeri	$492
911 km or 566 mi	Ruyigi	$648
911 km or 566 mi	Beni	$785
918 km or 570 mi	Nyanza	$518