Lilongwe vs Medan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Lilongwe	Medan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$587	$481
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1571	$1335
🏠 One person rent	$251	$187
🏘️ Family rent	$555	$394
🍽️ Food expenses	$237	$189
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$35.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$275	$262
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	13	53
😀 Quality of life	20	44
🏙️ Population	989K	2.11M

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 22% more expensive than in Medan. Cities ranked 7807th and 8745th ($587 vs $481) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 47th in Malawi and Indonesia, respectively. Check Malawi vs Indonesia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Lilongwe compared to 0.5 months in Medan. Lilongwe ranked 4th best city to live in Malawi vs Medan ranked 14th in Indonesia, while ranked 8847th and 6633rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Lilongwe vs Medan infographic

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

Prices in Lilongwe vs Medan

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

	Lilongwe	Medan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.27	$1.97
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.2	$12.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.14	$3.31
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.37	$2.39
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$2.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.93	$0.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$373	$174
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$107
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$362	$469
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$474	$265
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.6	$40.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$62.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.1	$26.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.4%	9.24%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10555	$1337
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$588	$614
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.91	$0.31
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.7	$8.02
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.67	$2.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.35	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$1.37
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$1.14
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$0.98
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.29	$1.55
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$8.21
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$3.56
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4	$6.98
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.01
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.5
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$0.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$0.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.29
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.31
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$1.13
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$15.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.91	$1.68
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$2.26
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.11	$2.01
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$2.41
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$0.83
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.68	$0.77
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$28.8	$23
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$3.48
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$15.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.6	$2.73
👖 Brand Jeans	$23.1	$55.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.4	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$349	$124
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2351	$10763

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 Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$470
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$461
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$435
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$695
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$582
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$620
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$619
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$628
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$571
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$670
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$719
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$560
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$645
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$490
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$714
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$810
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$585
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$532
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$536
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$604
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$543
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$570
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$398
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$669
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$772
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$542
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$682
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$940
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$792
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$782
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$703
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$529
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501