Lilongwe vs Mbabane - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Lilongwe	Mbabane
🚶 Cost of living one person	$592	$599
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1419	$1449
🏠 One person rent	$250	$261
🏘️ Family rent	$390	$433
🍽️ Food expenses	$241	$216
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$58.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$105	$352
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	12	16
😀 Quality of life	25	42
🏙️ Population	989K	60.7K

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 1% less expensive than in Mbabane. Cities ranked 7884th and 7826th ($592 vs $599) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Malawi and Eswatini, respectively. Check Malawi vs Eswatini comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Lilongwe compared to 0.6 months in Mbabane. Lilongwe ranked 7th best city to live in Malawi vs Mbabane ranked 1st in Eswatini, while ranked 8966th and 7530th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Lilongwe vs Mbabane

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

	Lilongwe	Mbabane
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.27	$3.13
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.6	$30.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.09	$2.39
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.55	$1.88
☕ Cappuccino	$2.34	$1.98
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.43	$0.96
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$374	$240
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$169
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$603	$443
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$207	$302
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.2	$48.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$73.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.6	$28.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.87%	11.65%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10587	$348
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$593	$258
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.92	$1.16
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.6	$30.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.7	$26.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.34	$1.21
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$1.09
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.27	$1.73
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.4	$9.16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$5.13
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.01	$5.35
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$1.55
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$0.75
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$0.96
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$1.44
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.06
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.29
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12	$5.73
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$1.5
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$2.67
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.12	$4.25
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.05	$3.17
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$1.55
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.66	$1.32
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29.1	$29
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$3.76
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$18.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.59	$4.34
👖 Brand Jeans	$23	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.5	$75.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$353	$110
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2356	$4704

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 Mbabane

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Manzini	$469
136 km or 85 mi	Matola	$908
148 km or 92 mi	Maputo	$915
165 km or 103 mi	Vryheid	$827
171 km or 106 mi	Bethal	$838
179 km or 111 mi	Middelburg	$830
271 km or 168 mi	Springs	$740
284 km or 176 mi	Benoni	$826
287 km or 178 mi	Xai-Xai	$915
301 km or 187 mi	Centurion	$892
304 km or 189 mi	Pretoria	$975
311 km or 193 mi	Sandton	$984
311 km or 193 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
316 km or 196 mi	Randburg	$890
324 km or 201 mi	Vereeniging	$706
329 km or 204 mi	Soweto	$984
334 km or 207 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
348 km or 216 mi	Brits	$875
370 km or 230 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
394 km or 245 mi	Durban	$892
398 km or 247 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
399 km or 248 mi	Rustenburg	$940
406 km or 252 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
416 km or 259 mi	Kroonstad	$808
451 km or 280 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
461 km or 287 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
477 km or 296 mi	Welkom	$762
491 km or 305 mi	Maseru	$650
546 km or 339 mi	Mafeteng	$598
555 km or 345 mi	Mmabatho	$833
559 km or 347 mi	Gaborone	$668
564 km or 350 mi	Lobatse	$637
566 km or 352 mi	Mahalapye	$577
576 km or 358 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
585 km or 363 mi	Palapye	$514
601 km or 374 mi	Kanye	$637
608 km or 378 mi	Molepolole	$607
628 km or 390 mi	Serowe	$536
628 km or 390 mi	Mthatha	$901
682 km or 424 mi	Francistown	$587