Lilongwe vs Male - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Lilongwe	Male
🚶 Cost of living one person	$592	$1320
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1419	$2817
🏠 One person rent	$250	$818
🏘️ Family rent	$390	$1403
🍽️ Food expenses	$241	$368
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$43.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$105	$988
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	12	7
😀 Quality of life	25	66
🏙️ Population	989K	133K

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 55% less expensive than in Male. Cities ranked 7884th and 4439th ($592 vs $1320) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Malawi and Maldives, respectively. Check Malawi vs Maldives comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Lilongwe compared to 0.7 months in Male. Lilongwe ranked 7th best city to live in Malawi vs Male ranked 1st in Maldives, while ranked 8966th and 5057th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Lilongwe vs Male infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/lilongwe/male.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Lilongwe vs Male infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/lilongwe/male" target="_blank">Lilongwe vs Male - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Lilongwe vs Male

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

	Lilongwe	Male
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.27	$5.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.6	$29.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.09	$9.82
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.55	$4.77
☕ Cappuccino	$2.34	$3.29
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.43	$1.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$374	$870
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$609
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$603	$1575
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$207	$1116
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.2	$75
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$114
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.6	$81.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.87%	14%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10587	$2585
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$593	$1897
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.92	$0.65
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.6	$29.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.7	$17.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.34	$0.93
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$1.85
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$1.59
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.27	$1.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.4	$9.08
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$6.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.01	$8.98
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$4.03
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$3.83
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$4.35
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$3.26
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.53
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.22
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.35
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$1.97
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12	$8.87
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$2.96
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$13
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.12	$5.39
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.05	$3.83
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$3.18
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.66	$1.81
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29.1	$80.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$9.82
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$23.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.59	$4.39
👖 Brand Jeans	$23	$42.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.5	$90.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$353	$166
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2356	$3575

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$493
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$496
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$458
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$565
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$506
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$820
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$527
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$461
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$888
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$1021
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$779
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$751
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$650
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$692
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$748
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$495
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$755
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$577
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$916
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$935
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$655
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$912
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$1062
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1278
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$761
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$1069
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$996
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$716
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1124
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1511
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$587
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1168
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$873
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$687
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$1032
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$658
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$526
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$421
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$653

Cities near Male

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.4 km or 3.4 mi	Hulhumale	$1445
610 km or 379 mi	Thiruvananthapuram	$344
618 km or 384 mi	Varkala	$308
621 km or 386 mi	Nagercoil	$279
624 km or 388 mi	Kollam	$253
687 km or 427 mi	Tirunelveli	$270
688 km or 428 mi	Kottayam	$300
713 km or 443 mi	Kochi	$382
714 km or 444 mi	Ernakulam	$351
724 km or 450 mi	Thoothukudi	$296
761 km or 473 mi	Beruwala	$590
763 km or 474 mi	Colombo	$646
766 km or 476 mi	Thrissur	$356
771 km or 479 mi	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	$626
772 km or 479 mi	Galle	$512
777 km or 483 mi	Negombo	$469
788 km or 490 mi	Gampaha	$420
803 km or 499 mi	Matara	$479
814 km or 506 mi	Malappuram	$286
817 km or 507 mi	Madurai	$347
825 km or 513 mi	Kozhikode	$321
843 km or 524 mi	Dindigul	$310
849 km or 528 mi	Coimbatore	$326
862 km or 535 mi	Kandy	$440
879 km or 546 mi	Kannur	$317
892 km or 554 mi	Anuradhapura	$535
899 km or 559 mi	Tiruppur	$347
922 km or 573 mi	Erode	$286
935 km or 581 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$300
964 km or 599 mi	Thanjavur	$275
968 km or 602 mi	Mysore	$346
977 km or 607 mi	Salem	$295
979 km or 608 mi	Mangalore	$400
983 km or 611 mi	Trincomalee	$530
1027 km or 638 mi	Udupi	$283
1076 km or 669 mi	Bangalore	$524
1087 km or 675 mi	Cuddalore	$300
1093 km or 679 mi	Tumkur	$355
1106 km or 688 mi	Shimoga	$340
1108 km or 688 mi	Pondicherry	$327