Lilongwe vs Mogadishu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Lilongwe	Mogadishu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$592	$715
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1419	$1661
🏠 One person rent	$250	$263
🏘️ Family rent	$390	$394
🍽️ Food expenses	$241	$252
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$67.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$105	$112
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	12	25
😀 Quality of life	25	15
🏙️ Population	989K	2.12M

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 17% less expensive than in Mogadishu. Cities ranked 7884th and 7013th ($592 vs $715) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Malawi and Somalia, respectively. Check Malawi vs Somalia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Lilongwe compared to 0.2 months in Mogadishu. Lilongwe ranked 7th best city to live in Malawi vs Mogadishu ranked 2nd in Somalia, while ranked 8966th and 9189th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Lilongwe vs Mogadishu infographic

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Prices in Lilongwe vs Mogadishu

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

	Lilongwe	Mogadishu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.27	$3.53
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.6	$53.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.09	$4.52
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.55	$4.03
☕ Cappuccino	$2.34	$1.5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.43	$0.5
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$374	$142
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$78.1
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$603	$259
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$207	$143
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.2	$106
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$161
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.6	$66.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.87%	8.02%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10587	$4802
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$593	$9000
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.92	$0.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.6	$19.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.7	$5.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.34	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$1.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$1.62
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$0.8
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.27	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.4	$5.03
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$3.66
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.01	$4.48
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$3.74
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$0.99
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$2.74
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$1.28
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.22
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.5
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.34
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$1.08
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12	$3.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$1.99
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$1.21
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.12	$3.08
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.05	$2.77
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$1.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.66	$1.19
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29.1	$31.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$26.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$15
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.59	$51.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$23	$17.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.5	$26.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$353	$50.2
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2356	$575

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 Mogadishu

Distance	City	Cost of living
223 km or 138 mi	Baidoa	$724
824 km or 512 mi	Malindi	$548
849 km or 527 mi	Hargeisa	$694
860 km or 534 mi	Jijiga	$1169
883 km or 549 mi	Harar	$1175
883 km or 549 mi	Meru	$549
909 km or 565 mi	Borama	$502
923 km or 573 mi	Dire Dawa	$1175
925 km or 575 mi	Mombasa	$596
944 km or 586 mi	Awasa	$1031
980 km or 609 mi	Thika	$460
981 km or 610 mi	Machakos	$420
1017 km or 632 mi	Nairobi	$811
1051 km or 653 mi	Tanga	$552
1054 km or 655 mi	Ali Sabieh	$557
1060 km or 659 mi	Dikhil	$559
1063 km or 661 mi	Nakuru	$503
1066 km or 663 mi	Addis Ababa	$1289
1072 km or 666 mi	Moshi	$533
1090 km or 677 mi	Djibouti City	$586
1127 km or 700 mi	Obock	$560
1131 km or 703 mi	Eldoret	$528
1131 km or 703 mi	Jimma	$802
1135 km or 705 mi	Arusha	$612
1139 km or 708 mi	Stone Town	$567
1139 km or 708 mi	Zanzibar	$609
1191 km or 740 mi	Dar es Salaam	$799
1191 km or 740 mi	Dessie	$1039
1197 km or 744 mi	Aden	$517
1201 km or 747 mi	Kisumu	$543
1222 km or 759 mi	Mumias	$511
1246 km or 774 mi	Mbale	$654
1250 km or 777 mi	Tororo	$623
1291 km or 802 mi	Taiz	$522
1303 km or 810 mi	Morogoro	$421
1332 km or 828 mi	Ibb	$512
1346 km or 836 mi	Victoria	$1585
1361 km or 846 mi	Jinja	$582
1370 km or 851 mi	Zabid	$499
1377 km or 855 mi	Bahir Dar	$864