Lilongwe vs New York City - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Lilongwe	New York City
🚶 Cost of living one person	$592	$4203
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1419	$9136
🏠 One person rent	$250	$2713
🏘️ Family rent	$390	$4396
🍽️ Food expenses	$241	$874
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$379
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$105	$5599
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	12	100
😀 Quality of life	25	98
🏙️ Population	989K	8.8M

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 86% less expensive than in New York City. Cities ranked 7884th and 4th ($592 vs $4203) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Malawi and the United States, respectively. Check Malawi vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Lilongwe compared to 1.3 months in New York City. Lilongwe ranked 7th best city to live in Malawi vs New York City ranked 1st in the United States, while ranked 8966th and 11th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Lilongwe vs New York City

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

	Lilongwe	New York City
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.27	$23.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.6	$92.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.09	$14
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.55	$8.67
☕ Cappuccino	$2.34	$6.18
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.43	$3.07
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$374	$3669
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$2221
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$603	$5076
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$207	$3880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.2	$137
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$211
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.6	$66.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.87%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10587	$15299
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$593	$11127
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.92	$2.93
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.6	$134
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.7	$25
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.34	$0.9
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$1.58
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$4.49
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$6.71
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.27	$7.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.4	$19.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$15.9
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.01	$19.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$7.19
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$2.5
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$5.91
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$6.35
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$3.38
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$3.71
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$1.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$3.76
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12	$18.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$4.3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$18.8
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.12	$23.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.05	$13.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$8.03
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.66	$2.87
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29.1	$128
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$20.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$157
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.59	$37.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$23	$63.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.5	$119
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$353	$1884
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2356	$22663

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 New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2569
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3364
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3066
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$2913
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2733
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3253
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2717
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2783
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2727
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2725
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2735
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2811
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2671
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2712
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2765
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2538
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2688
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2756
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2545
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2475
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2614
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2647
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2770
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2705
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2513
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2749
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2774
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2695
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2769
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2655
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2730
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2718
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2609
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2506
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2723
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2911
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2779
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2680
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2470
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3174