Johannesburg vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Johannesburg	Lilongwe
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1079	$582
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2553	$1336
🏠 One person rent	$487	$260
🏘️ Family rent	$837	$352
🍽️ Food expenses	$302	$216
🚐 Transport expenses	$204	$57.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1695	$278
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	72	13
😀 Quality of life	58	20
🏙️ Population	4.43M	989K

The cost of living in Johannesburg is 85% more expensive than in Lilongwe. Cities ranked 5069th and 7990th ($1079 vs $582) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd in South Africa and Malawi, respectively. Check South Africa vs Malawi comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Johannesburg compared to 0.5 months in Lilongwe. Johannesburg ranked 2nd best city to live in South Africa vs Lilongwe ranked 4th in Malawi, while ranked 5446th and 8861st among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Johannesburg vs Lilongwe infographic

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Prices in Johannesburg vs Lilongwe

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

	Johannesburg	Lilongwe
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.91	$3.23
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$40.5	$25.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.08	$3.86
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.31	$0.93
☕ Cappuccino	$2.04	$2.43
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.01	$0.92
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$405	$375
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$361	$113
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$781	$363
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$657	$202
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.2	$44.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$111	$68.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$44.3	$49.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.54%	12.6%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1096	$10490
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$753	$589
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.89	$0.93
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$81.8	$11.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.6	$6.99
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.37	$1.4
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.21	$1.22
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1	$1.08
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.66	$2.56
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$13.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.16	$3.05
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.49	$5.01
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$2.24
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.32
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$2.6
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.13
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.57
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.29
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.51	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.14	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.36	$0.95
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.19	$1.59
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.05	$2.13
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.18	$4.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2	$0.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.53	$0.67
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.1	$33.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.67	$4.11
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$29.8	$17.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$6.42	$3.63
👖 Brand Jeans	$51.5	$23
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.2	$49.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$241	$350
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5865	$2358

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Johannesburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Sandton	$997
13 km or 8 mi	Randburg	$874
19 km or 12 mi	Soweto	$971
28 km or 17 mi	Benoni	$822
40 km or 25 mi	Springs	$696
41 km or 25 mi	Centurion	$838
53 km or 33 mi	Pretoria	$909
53 km or 33 mi	Vereeniging	$717
59 km or 36 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$768
71 km or 44 mi	Brits	$848
101 km or 62 mi	Rustenburg	$943
109 km or 68 mi	Potchefstroom	$717
143 km or 89 mi	Bethal	$819
152 km or 94 mi	Middelburg	$841
155 km or 97 mi	Klerksdorp	$689
179 km or 111 mi	Kroonstad	$788
237 km or 147 mi	Welkom	$774
244 km or 152 mi	Mmabatho	$809
262 km or 163 mi	Lobatse	$692
275 km or 171 mi	Gaborone	$718
287 km or 179 mi	Butha-Buthe	$559
302 km or 188 mi	Kanye	$690
311 km or 193 mi	Mbabane	$623
323 km or 201 mi	Vryheid	$791
325 km or 202 mi	Molepolole	$654
329 km or 204 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
333 km or 207 mi	Manzini	$459
350 km or 217 mi	Maseru	$627
366 km or 228 mi	Mahalapye	$663
369 km or 229 mi	Bloemfontein	$696
409 km or 254 mi	Mafeteng	$581
417 km or 259 mi	Palapye	$554
429 km or 267 mi	Kimberley	$859
442 km or 275 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$674
443 km or 275 mi	Matola	$1003
446 km or 277 mi	Serowe	$600
454 km or 282 mi	Maputo	$1116
501 km or 311 mi	Durban	$834
562 km or 349 mi	Francistown	$585
577 km or 358 mi	Xai-Xai	$1045

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$526
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$515
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$516
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$498
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$574
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$591
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$834
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$534
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$500
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$1079
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$1012
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$810
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$890
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$830
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$670
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$894
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$433
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$662
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$1139
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$953
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$1190
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$685
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$1017
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$1116
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1090
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$729
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$1028
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$1000
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$731
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1007
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1500
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$761
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1394
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$871
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$725
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$939
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$756
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$564
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$639
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$670