Lilongwe vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Lilongwe	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$587	$1637
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1571	$3629
🏠 One person rent	$251	$944
🏘️ Family rent	$555	$1530
🍽️ Food expenses	$237	$375
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$183
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$275	$2731
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	13	72
😀 Quality of life	20	78
🏙️ Population	989K	7.01M

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 64% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 7807th and 2911th ($587 vs $1637) 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 0.5 months in Lilongwe compared to 1.7 months in Riyadh. Lilongwe ranked 4th best city to live in Malawi vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 8847th and 733rd 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	$9.31
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.2	$53.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.14	$8.02
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.37	$1.88
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$4.16
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.93	$0.76
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$373	$1001
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$748
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$362	$2174
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$474	$1140
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.6	$69.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$107
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.1	$75.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.4%	5.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10555	$2485
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$588	$1703
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.91	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.7	$37.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.67	$18.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.35	$0.61
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$1.71
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$1.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$2.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.29	$2.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$8.14
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$9.75
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4	$13.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$2.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.7
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.86
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$2.14
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$8.71
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.91	$1.72
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$7.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.11	$2.8
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$4.03
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$2.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.68	$5.22
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$28.8	$102
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$52.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.6	$7.23
👖 Brand Jeans	$23.1	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.4	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$349	$404
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2351	$10598

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	$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 Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$969
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$861
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$1068
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1056
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$901
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$897
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1223
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1243
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1280
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1041
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1779
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1709
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1393
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$846
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$740
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$736
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$551
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$723
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$547
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$904
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$544
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$905
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$546
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$548
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$672
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1215
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$557
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$536
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$582
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$597
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$979
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$589
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$683
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$902
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$547
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$529