Gaborone vs Sofia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Gaborone	Sofia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$691	$1037
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1793	$2570
🏠 One person rent	$268	$499
🏘️ Family rent	$520	$871
🍽️ Food expenses	$287	$357
🚐 Transport expenses	$66	$79.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$373	$1394
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	39	70
😀 Quality of life	56	78
🏙️ Population	236K	1.4M

The cost of living in Gaborone is 33% less expensive than in Sofia. Cities ranked 6941st and 5261st ($691 vs $1037) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Botswana and Bulgaria, respectively. Check Botswana vs Bulgaria comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Gaborone compared to 1.3 months in Sofia. Gaborone ranked 1st best city to live in Botswana vs Sofia ranked 1st in Bulgaria, while ranked 5825th and 723rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Gaborone vs Sofia infographic

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Prices in Gaborone vs Sofia

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

	Gaborone	Sofia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.24	$9.19
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$29.1	$42.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.77	$8.07
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.19	$2.53
☕ Cappuccino	$2.19	$2.48
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.79	$1.59
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$223	$500
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$133	$376
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$537	$979
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$341	$663
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$41.7	$85.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$64.4	$132
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$75.6	$12.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.07%	3.16%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1028	$3192
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$949	$2153
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.51	$0.87
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.3	$25.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.9	$7.59
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.08	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.33	$1.75
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.79	$0.94
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.23	$3.7
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.31	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.83	$8.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.4	$12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.68	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$1.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$2.44
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$0.98
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.56	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.34	$1.46
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.11	$7.58
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.64	$1.04
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.65	$3.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$9.3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.46	$3.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.52	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$2.55
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34	$33.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.49	$7.97
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$19	$39.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.58	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$41.1	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$76.6	$99.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$171	$538
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4190	$6749

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 Sofia

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Pernik	$682
59 km or 37 mi	Vratsa	$687
77 km or 48 mi	Blagoevgrad	$576
97 km or 60 mi	Bansko	$866
100 km or 62 mi	Pazardzhik	$667
132 km or 82 mi	Pleven	$594
132 km or 82 mi	Plovdiv	$734
135 km or 84 mi	Nis	$711
142 km or 88 mi	Stip	$561
146 km or 91 mi	Kumanovo	$588
148 km or 92 mi	Vidin	$605
149 km or 92 mi	Asenovgrad	$616
151 km or 94 mi	Strumica	$612
164 km or 102 mi	Gabrovo	$598
168 km or 104 mi	Veles	$545
175 km or 108 mi	Skopje	$772
176 km or 110 mi	Pristina	$595
178 km or 110 mi	Kavadarci	$556
180 km or 112 mi	Serres	$988
185 km or 115 mi	Drama	$891
186 km or 116 mi	Craiova	$848
191 km or 119 mi	Stara Zagora	$646
193 km or 120 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$731
202 km or 125 mi	Mitrovica	$463
202 km or 126 mi	Haskovo	$619
208 km or 129 mi	Tetovo	$682
210 km or 130 mi	Prilep	$537
210 km or 131 mi	Slatina	$623
215 km or 134 mi	Kavala	$930
215 km or 134 mi	Alexandria	$629
217 km or 135 mi	Xanthi	$948
222 km or 138 mi	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	$663
224 km or 139 mi	Giannitsa	$1028
232 km or 144 mi	Thessaloniki	$1106
234 km or 145 mi	Novi Pazar	$662
242 km or 150 mi	Kragujevac	$807
245 km or 152 mi	Sliven	$631
246 km or 153 mi	Komotini	$899
248 km or 154 mi	Bitola	$635
248 km or 154 mi	Ruse	$633