Gaborone vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Gaborone	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$731	$1632
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1792	$3539
🏠 One person rent	$272	$946
🏘️ Family rent	$439	$1446
🍽️ Food expenses	$320	$370
🚐 Transport expenses	$66.9	$183
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$437	$2285
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	21 km
🎓 Higher education	39	70
😀 Quality of life	60	78
🏙️ Population	236K	7.01M

The cost of living in Gaborone is 55% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 7094th and 3529th ($731 vs $1632) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Botswana and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Check Botswana vs Saudi Arabia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Gaborone compared to 1.4 months in Riyadh. Gaborone ranked 1st best city to live in Botswana vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 5910th and 879th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Gaborone vs Riyadh

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

	Gaborone	Riyadh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.4	$8.06
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$30	$53.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.02	$7.94
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.26	$1.62
☕ Cappuccino	$2.36	$4.33
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.87	$0.79
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$257	$1000
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$157	$763
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$462	$1845
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$286	$1133
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$42.8	$63.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$66.2	$98.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52	$72.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.49%	5.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1146	$2922
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1146	$1930
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.53	$1.08
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$31.1	$37.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.7	$18.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.15	$0.61
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.51	$1.61
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.87	$1.27
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$2.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.46	$2.69
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.05	$8.76
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.32	$9.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.57	$15.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.72	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.68
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$1.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.72	$1.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.45
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.41	$2.39
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$4.54	$8.07
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.48	$1.77
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.81	$7.34
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.8	$2.71
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.65	$4.31
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.54	$2.38
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.1	$5.23
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$35.2	$93.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.88	$14.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$18.9	$51.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.69	$8.02
👖 Brand Jeans	$47	$57
👟 Brand Sneakers	$77.2	$111
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$147	$495
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2881	$9443

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	$662
67 km or 42 mi	Lobatse	$697
67 km or 42 mi	Kanye	$694
136 km or 84 mi	Mmabatho	$901
174 km or 108 mi	Rustenburg	$1017
196 km or 122 mi	Mahalapye	$628
215 km or 134 mi	Brits	$950
257 km or 160 mi	Klerksdorp	$826
258 km or 160 mi	Potchefstroom	$791
259 km or 161 mi	Pretoria	$1049
264 km or 164 mi	Randburg	$958
265 km or 165 mi	Palapye	$551
266 km or 165 mi	Centurion	$967
266 km or 165 mi	Soweto	$1057
266 km or 165 mi	Serowe	$583
269 km or 167 mi	Sandton	$1089
275 km or 171 mi	Johannesburg	$1171
296 km or 184 mi	Benoni	$892
298 km or 185 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$865
302 km or 188 mi	Vereeniging	$765
310 km or 193 mi	Springs	$792
358 km or 222 mi	Kroonstad	$875
379 km or 235 mi	Welkom	$826
380 km or 236 mi	Middelburg	$899
407 km or 253 mi	Bethal	$910
421 km or 261 mi	Francistown	$633
468 km or 291 mi	Kimberley	$927
495 km or 308 mi	Bloemfontein	$763
514 km or 319 mi	Butha-Buthe	$604
531 km or 330 mi	Teyateyaneng	$573
540 km or 336 mi	Maseru	$681
559 km or 347 mi	Mbabane	$652
569 km or 354 mi	Bulawayo	$630
584 km or 363 mi	Manzini	$511
589 km or 366 mi	Mafeteng	$630
597 km or 371 mi	Vryheid	$912
628 km or 390 mi	Upington	$811
675 km or 419 mi	Matola	$916
685 km or 425 mi	Maputo	$966
705 km or 438 mi	Gweru	$577

Cities near Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$793
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$931
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$815
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$931
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1037
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$928
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$823
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1109
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1192
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1309
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1281
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1005
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$2014
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1923
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1461
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$775
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$711
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$707
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$465
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$698
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$556
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$861
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$551
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$906
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$489
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$537
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1710
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$664
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1168
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$523
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$492
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$581
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$571
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$2070
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$1107
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$565
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$680
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$893
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$545
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$487