Lilongwe vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Lilongwe	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$592	$3469
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1419	$7890
🏠 One person rent	$250	$2370
🏘️ Family rent	$390	$4148
🍽️ Food expenses	$241	$726
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$179
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$105	$5254
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	12	86
😀 Quality of life	25	93
🏙️ Population	989K	1.39M

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 83% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 7884th and 43rd ($592 vs $3469) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 33rd 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 1.5 months in San Diego. Lilongwe ranked 7th best city to live in Malawi vs San Diego ranked 26th in the United States, while ranked 8966th and 97th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Lilongwe vs San Diego infographic

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Prices in Lilongwe vs San Diego

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

	Lilongwe	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.27	$21.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.6	$85.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.09	$15.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.55	$8.63
☕ Cappuccino	$2.34	$6.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.43	$3.03
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$374	$2499
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$2053
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$603	$4569
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$207	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.2	$156
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$240
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.6	$71
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.87%	6.43%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10587	$9580
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$593	$7151
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.92	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.6	$71
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.7	$19.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.34	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$1.26
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$3.92
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$3.92
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.27	$6.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.4	$15.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.01	$20.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$4.5
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$4.03
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$4.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$2.56
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$2.37
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$1.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$2.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$12.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.12	$14.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.05	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$5.53
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.66	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29.1	$63.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$17.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.59	$30.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$23	$60.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.5	$108
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$353	$1745
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2356	$28967

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 San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3195
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3013
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2932
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2972
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2943
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2909
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2996
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$2988
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1210
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2887
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2922
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3066
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1063
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1055
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3215
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2931
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3252
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2930
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3274
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2873
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2681
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2967
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3049
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$2994
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2715
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3057
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2776
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3490
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3075
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2626
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$903
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2671
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3585
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3037
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$3014
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3450
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2539
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2742
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2691
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2782