Lilongwe vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Lilongwe	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$592	$1627
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1419	$3576
🏠 One person rent	$250	$931
🏘️ Family rent	$390	$1463
🍽️ Food expenses	$241	$375
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$184
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$105	$2496
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	21 km
🎓 Higher education	12	73
😀 Quality of life	25	80
🏙️ Population	989K	7.01M

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 64% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 7884th and 3418th ($592 vs $1627) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Malawi and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Check Malawi vs Saudi Arabia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Lilongwe compared to 1.5 months in Riyadh. Lilongwe ranked 7th best city to live in Malawi vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 8966th and 759th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Lilongwe vs Riyadh infographic

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Prices in Lilongwe vs Riyadh

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

	Lilongwe	Riyadh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.27	$7.98
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.6	$53.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.09	$8.06
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.55	$1.86
☕ Cappuccino	$2.34	$4.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.43	$0.78
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$374	$1007
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$738
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$603	$1807
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$207	$1160
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.2	$64.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$99.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.6	$74.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.87%	5.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10587	$2939
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$593	$2197
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.92	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.6	$37.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.7	$18.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.34	$0.62
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$1.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$1.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$2.46
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.27	$2.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.4	$8.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$10.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.01	$14.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.66
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$1.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$1.53
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.27
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$2.38
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12	$9.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$1.75
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$7.34
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.12	$2.73
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.05	$4.67
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$2.36
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.66	$5.22
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29.1	$101
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$51.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.59	$7.99
👖 Brand Jeans	$23	$58.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.5	$110
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$353	$451
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2356	$9818

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 Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$967
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$862
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$908
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1008
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$930
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$873
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1201
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1230
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1237
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1283
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1008
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1849
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1770
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1454
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$825
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$726
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$730
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$453
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$719
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$549
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$889
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$542
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$918
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$477
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$521
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$669
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1182
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$503
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$483
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$583
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$571
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1942
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$1162
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$553
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$681
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$903
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$530
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$463