Lilongwe vs Muscat - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Lilongwe	Muscat
🚶 Cost of living one person	$587	$1090
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1571	$2569
🏠 One person rent	$251	$541
🏘️ Family rent	$555	$966
🍽️ Food expenses	$237	$334
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$114
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$275	$1772
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	31 km
🎓 Higher education	13	43
😀 Quality of life	20	70
🏙️ Population	989K	1.42M

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 46% less expensive than in Muscat. Cities ranked 7807th and 4892nd ($587 vs $1090) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Malawi and Oman, respectively. Check Malawi vs Oman comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Lilongwe compared to 1.6 months in Muscat. Lilongwe ranked 4th best city to live in Malawi vs Muscat ranked 1st in Oman, while ranked 8847th and 2404th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Lilongwe vs Muscat infographic

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Prices in Lilongwe vs Muscat

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

	Lilongwe	Muscat
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.27	$5.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.2	$25.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.14	$7.86
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.37	$13
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$4.83
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.93	$1.03
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$373	$581
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$362
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$362	$1144
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$474	$713
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.6	$63.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$95.9
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.1	$71.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.4%	5.06%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10555	$1690
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$588	$1296
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.91	$1.3
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.7	$61.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.67	$9.37
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.35	$0.62
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$1.77
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$1.16
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$1.78
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.29	$2.44
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$4.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$5.37
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4	$9.25
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$2.58
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.76
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.18
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$0.95
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$0.97
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.36
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$2.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$18.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.91	$4.37
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$6.24
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.11	$5.32
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$5.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$2.14
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.68	$5
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$28.8	$48.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$10.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$37.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.6	$8.76
👖 Brand Jeans	$23.1	$55.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.4	$85.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$349	$198
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2351	$10296

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 Muscat

Distance	City	Cost of living
44 km or 27 mi	Seeb	$967
132 km or 82 mi	Nizwa	$780
277 km or 172 mi	Chabahar	$585
284 km or 177 mi	Fujairah	$1239
297 km or 184 mi	Al Ain	$1844
356 km or 221 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1540
372 km or 231 mi	Ajman	$2240
375 km or 233 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1196
377 km or 235 mi	Sharjah	$1494
380 km or 236 mi	Dubai	$2379
439 km or 273 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
451 km or 280 mi	Iranshahr	$605
463 km or 288 mi	Bandar Abbas	$634
503 km or 313 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
569 km or 354 mi	Jiroft	$518
611 km or 380 mi	Bam	$515
691 km or 429 mi	Zahedan	$829
711 km or 442 mi	Sirjan	$514
739 km or 459 mi	Doha	$1779
740 km or 460 mi	Jahrom	$547
752 km or 467 mi	Al Khor	$1709
757 km or 470 mi	Kerman	$464
770 km or 479 mi	Fasa	$548
797 km or 495 mi	Rafsanjan	$507
858 km or 533 mi	Riffa	$1223
858 km or 533 mi	Manama	$1280
860 km or 534 mi	Isa Town	$1243
865 km or 537 mi	Karachi	$442
870 km or 541 mi	Salalah	$809
873 km or 543 mi	Zabol	$552
898 km or 558 mi	Shiraz	$589
901 km or 560 mi	Dhahran	$1068
902 km or 561 mi	Marvdasht	$563
911 km or 566 mi	Dammam	$1056
926 km or 575 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
938 km or 583 mi	Qatif	$897
960 km or 596 mi	Kazerun	$557
966 km or 600 mi	Borazjan	$546
973 km or 604 mi	Jubail	$901
976 km or 606 mi	Bushehr	$551