Lilongwe vs Maseru - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Lilongwe	Maseru
🚶 Cost of living one person	$587	$621
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1571	$1508
🏠 One person rent	$251	$219
🏘️ Family rent	$555	$409
🍽️ Food expenses	$237	$305
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$39.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$275	$611
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	18 km
🎓 Higher education	13	16
😀 Quality of life	20	13
🏙️ Population	989K	344K

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 5% less expensive than in Maseru. Cities ranked 7807th and 7441st ($587 vs $621) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Malawi and Lesotho, respectively. Check Malawi vs Lesotho comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Lilongwe compared to 1 months in Maseru. Lilongwe ranked 4th best city to live in Malawi vs Maseru ranked 1st in Lesotho, while ranked 8847th and 9104th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Lilongwe vs Maseru infographic

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Prices in Lilongwe vs Maseru

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

	Lilongwe	Maseru
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.27	$10.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.2	$24.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.14	$10.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.37	$1.59
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$1.73
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.93	$1.25
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$373	$125
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$63.3
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$362	$412
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$474	$150
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.6	$117
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$180
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.1	$26.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.4%	8.53%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10555	$344
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$588	$472
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.91	$0.71
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.7	$27.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.67	$5.42
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.35	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$0.91
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$0.71
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.29	$1.48
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$6.93
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$5.54
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4	$5.55
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$1.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$2.04
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$2.47
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$2.2
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.42
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.66
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.53
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$1.07
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$5.77
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.91	$0.98
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$4.62
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.11	$3.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$2.8
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$1.66
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.68	$1.23
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$28.8	$20.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$4.08
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$12.5
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.6	$2.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$23.1	$41
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.4	$79.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$349	$46.9
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2351	$1063

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$492
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$493
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$457
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$566
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$507
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$825
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$525
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$461
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$748
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$992
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$794
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$873
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$646
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$675
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$687
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$461
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$752
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$541
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$947
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$872
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$738
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$776
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$917
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1018
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$723
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$875
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$1003
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$730
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1050
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1506
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$597
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1150
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$854
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$700
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$961
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$766
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$502
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$486
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$688

Cities near Maseru

Distance	City	Cost of living
30 km or 19 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
61 km or 38 mi	Mafeteng	$567
94 km or 58 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
125 km or 78 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
165 km or 103 mi	Welkom	$748
187 km or 116 mi	Kroonstad	$768
272 km or 169 mi	Kimberley	$814
280 km or 174 mi	Mthatha	$852
283 km or 176 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
286 km or 178 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
291 km or 181 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
292 km or 182 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
294 km or 182 mi	Komani	$915
296 km or 184 mi	Vereeniging	$672
341 km or 212 mi	Soweto	$923
348 km or 216 mi	Durban	$809
350 km or 217 mi	Johannesburg	$993
353 km or 219 mi	Springs	$678
357 km or 222 mi	Benoni	$785
361 km or 224 mi	Sandton	$953
361 km or 225 mi	Randburg	$837
366 km or 227 mi	Vryheid	$763
372 km or 231 mi	Bethal	$784
390 km or 242 mi	Centurion	$807
394 km or 245 mi	Bhisho	$1332
402 km or 250 mi	Pretoria	$906
406 km or 252 mi	Rustenburg	$889
410 km or 255 mi	East London	$766
412 km or 256 mi	Brits	$820
426 km or 264 mi	Mmabatho	$780
440 km or 274 mi	Middelburg	$795
453 km or 281 mi	Makhanda	$763
489 km or 304 mi	Lobatse	$665
491 km or 305 mi	Mbabane	$562
495 km or 307 mi	Manzini	$442
525 km or 326 mi	Kanye	$664
532 km or 330 mi	Uitenhage	$840
540 km or 336 mi	Gaborone	$691
547 km or 340 mi	Port Elizabeth	$901
580 km or 360 mi	Molepolole	$628