Harare vs Mbabane - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Harare	Mbabane
🚶 Cost of living one person	$992	$562
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2589	$1439
🏠 One person rent	$411	$245
🏘️ Family rent	$862	$484
🍽️ Food expenses	$345	$202
🚐 Transport expenses	$161	$55.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$415	$701
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	37	16
😀 Quality of life	45	38
🏙️ Population	2.15M	60.7K

The cost of living in Harare is 76% more expensive than in Mbabane. Cities ranked 5540th and 8102nd ($992 vs $562) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Zimbabwe and Eswatini, respectively. Check Zimbabwe vs Eswatini comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Harare compared to 1.2 months in Mbabane. Harare ranked 1st best city to live in Zimbabwe vs Mbabane ranked 1st in Eswatini, while ranked 6578th and 7231st among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Harare vs Mbabane infographic

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Prices in Harare vs Mbabane

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

	Harare	Mbabane
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10	$2.96
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$50	$27.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.03	$2.22
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.51	$1.78
☕ Cappuccino	$3.07	$1.65
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.69	$0.9
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$341	$221
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$243	$159
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$919	$487
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$638	$360
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$35.5	$45.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$54.7	$70.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$113	$27.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14.13%	11.73%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1327	$330
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$547	$245
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1	$1.09
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$30.1	$28.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.1	$25.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.58	$1.14
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$1.03
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1	$0.74
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$1.22
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.21	$1.63
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$8.71
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.69	$4.82
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.57	$5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.95	$1.47
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$0.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.27	$0.9
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.33
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$1.22
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.49
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.26	$1.12
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.02	$5.45
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$1.42
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.21	$2.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.94	$4.16
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.01	$3.07
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.7	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.59	$1.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.1	$27.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.98	$3.51
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37	$17.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.13	$4.52
👖 Brand Jeans	$19.5	$43.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$35.2	$70.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$247	$104
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6241	$4495

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Harare

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Chitungwiza	$873
66 km or 41 mi	Marondera	$794
105 km or 65 mi	Chinhoyi	$646
133 km or 83 mi	Kadoma	$723
165 km or 103 mi	Kwekwe	$730
213 km or 132 mi	Mutare	$752
223 km or 138 mi	Gweru	$597
251 km or 156 mi	Masvingo	$854
291 km or 181 mi	Chimoio	$947
328 km or 204 mi	Tete	$825
369 km or 229 mi	Bulawayo	$766
399 km or 248 mi	Lusaka	$738
447 km or 278 mi	Choma	$700
458 km or 284 mi	Beira	$1003
478 km or 297 mi	Blantyre	$507
498 km or 309 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$687
510 km or 317 mi	Ntcheu	$492
514 km or 319 mi	Mulanje	$461
518 km or 322 mi	Lilongwe	$587
525 km or 326 mi	Francistown	$624
531 km or 330 mi	Zomba	$457
549 km or 341 mi	Livingstone	$688
584 km or 363 mi	Mangochi	$493
588 km or 365 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
599 km or 372 mi	Ndola	$541
618 km or 384 mi	Quelimane	$675
635 km or 394 mi	Kitwe	$917
659 km or 409 mi	Mufulira	$1018
665 km or 413 mi	Palapye	$540
679 km or 422 mi	Serowe	$583
680 km or 422 mi	Chingola	$875
714 km or 444 mi	Mzimba	$566
734 km or 456 mi	Mahalapye	$631
775 km or 482 mi	Mansa	$776
778 km or 484 mi	Mzuzu	$525
786 km or 489 mi	Lubumbashi	$1050
847 km or 526 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003
847 km or 526 mi	Kasama	$748
892 km or 554 mi	Likasi	$961
898 km or 558 mi	Middelburg	$795

Cities near Mbabane

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Manzini	$442
136 km or 85 mi	Matola	$964
148 km or 92 mi	Maputo	$1068
165 km or 103 mi	Vryheid	$763
171 km or 106 mi	Bethal	$784
179 km or 111 mi	Middelburg	$795
271 km or 168 mi	Springs	$678
284 km or 176 mi	Benoni	$785
287 km or 178 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003
301 km or 187 mi	Centurion	$807
304 km or 189 mi	Pretoria	$906
311 km or 193 mi	Sandton	$953
311 km or 193 mi	Johannesburg	$993
316 km or 196 mi	Randburg	$837
324 km or 201 mi	Vereeniging	$672
329 km or 204 mi	Soweto	$923
334 km or 207 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
348 km or 216 mi	Brits	$820
370 km or 230 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
394 km or 245 mi	Durban	$809
398 km or 247 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
399 km or 248 mi	Rustenburg	$889
406 km or 252 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
416 km or 259 mi	Kroonstad	$768
451 km or 280 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
461 km or 287 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
477 km or 296 mi	Welkom	$748
491 km or 305 mi	Maseru	$621
546 km or 339 mi	Mafeteng	$567
555 km or 345 mi	Mmabatho	$780
559 km or 347 mi	Gaborone	$691
564 km or 350 mi	Lobatse	$665
566 km or 352 mi	Mahalapye	$631
576 km or 358 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
585 km or 363 mi	Palapye	$540
601 km or 374 mi	Kanye	$664
608 km or 378 mi	Molepolole	$628
628 km or 390 mi	Serowe	$583
628 km or 390 mi	Mthatha	$852
682 km or 424 mi	Francistown	$624