Gaborone vs Nairobi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Gaborone	Nairobi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$691	$760
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1793	$2089
🏠 One person rent	$268	$262
🏘️ Family rent	$520	$619
🍽️ Food expenses	$287	$281
🚐 Transport expenses	$66	$160
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$373	$399
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	4 km
🎓 Higher education	39	68
😀 Quality of life	56	59
🏙️ Population	236K	5.55M

The cost of living in Gaborone is 9% less expensive than in Nairobi. Cities ranked 6941st and 6622nd ($691 vs $760) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st 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 0.5 months in Nairobi. Gaborone ranked 1st best city to live in Botswana vs Nairobi ranked 1st in Kenya, while ranked 5825th and 5369th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Gaborone vs Nairobi infographic

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Prices in Gaborone vs Nairobi

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

	Gaborone	Nairobi
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.24	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$29.1	$38.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.77	$6.64
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.19	$2.34
☕ Cappuccino	$2.19	$2.28
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.79	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$223	$395
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$133	$156
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$537	$1080
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$341	$418
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$41.7	$20
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$64.4	$31.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$75.6	$37.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.07%	14.8%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1028	$1743
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$949	$998
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.51	$0.77
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.3	$31
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.9	$13.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.08	$1.56
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.33	$0.92
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.79	$0.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.65
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.23	$1.63
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.31	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.83	$6.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.4	$5.36
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.68	$2.97
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$2.01
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.03
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.07
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$1.18
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.56	$0.52
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.34	$1.45
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.11	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.64	$2.13
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.65	$3.08
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$2.6
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.46	$3.72
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.52	$1.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$1.14
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34	$42
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.49	$6.17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$19	$15.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.58	$4.79
👖 Brand Jeans	$41.1	$19.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$76.6	$59.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$171	$187
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4190	$7984

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 Nairobi

Distance	City	Cost of living
40 km or 25 mi	Thika	$589
56 km or 35 mi	Machakos	$408
139 km or 87 mi	Nakuru	$500
175 km or 109 mi	Meru	$541
232 km or 144 mi	Arusha	$638
235 km or 146 mi	Moshi	$561
263 km or 164 mi	Eldoret	$483
265 km or 165 mi	Kisumu	$522
316 km or 196 mi	Mumias	$490
367 km or 228 mi	Tororo	$602
394 km or 245 mi	Mbale	$605
425 km or 264 mi	Malindi	$498
441 km or 274 mi	Mombasa	$580
444 km or 276 mi	Jinja	$562
456 km or 284 mi	Mwanza	$625
491 km or 305 mi	Tanga	$545
501 km or 311 mi	Kira Town	$646
503 km or 313 mi	Kampala	$698
507 km or 315 mi	Entebbe	$558
564 km or 351 mi	Dodoma	$502
603 km or 375 mi	Stone Town	$523
604 km or 375 mi	Zanzibar	$552
623 km or 387 mi	Morogoro	$486
671 km or 417 mi	Dar es Salaam	$811
674 km or 419 mi	Gulu	$594
741 km or 461 mi	Muyinga	$650
751 km or 467 mi	Byumba	$613
755 km or 469 mi	Kigali	$771
769 km or 478 mi	Ruyigi	$648
778 km or 483 mi	Kasese	$573
794 km or 494 mi	Nyanza	$518
796 km or 495 mi	Bunia	$801
798 km or 496 mi	Ruhengeri	$492
798 km or 496 mi	Ngozi	$648
799 km or 496 mi	Butare	$413
801 km or 498 mi	Gitega	$651
811 km or 504 mi	Rutana	$648
813 km or 505 mi	Arua	$585
835 km or 519 mi	Kibuye	$479
841 km or 523 mi	Beni	$785