Lilongwe vs San Jose, United States - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Lilongwe	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$592	$3952
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1419	$8290
🏠 One person rent	$250	$2795
🏘️ Family rent	$390	$4452
🍽️ Food expenses	$241	$775
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$174
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$105	$5915
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	12	87
😀 Quality of life	25	93
🏙️ Population	989K	1.01M

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 85% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 7884th and 6th ($592 vs $3952) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 4th 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 Jose, United States. Lilongwe ranked 7th best city to live in Malawi vs San Jose, United States ranked 21st in the United States, while ranked 8966th and 88th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Lilongwe vs San Jose, United States 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/san-jose-us.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Lilongwe vs San Jose, United States infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/lilongwe/san-jose-us" target="_blank">Lilongwe vs San Jose, United States - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Lilongwe vs San Jose, United States

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

	Lilongwe	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.27	$20.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.6	$99.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.09	$12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.55	$9.08
☕ Cappuccino	$2.34	$5.87
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.43	$3.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$374	$2999
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$2438
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$603	$4520
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$207	$4008
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.2	$175
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$272
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.6	$70
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.87%	6.45%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10587	$10416
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$593	$9325
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.92	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.6	$90.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.7	$18.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.34	$1.27
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$1.5
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.07	$5.04
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$3.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.27	$5.39
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.4	$22.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$15.5
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.01	$23
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$6.54
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$2.61
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$5.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$6.69
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$4.3
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$3.17
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$1.88
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$3.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12	$15.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$2.31
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$11.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.12	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.05	$6.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$6.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.66	$2.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29.1	$113
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$176
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.59	$21
👖 Brand Jeans	$23	$56.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.5	$88.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$353	$1874
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2356	$22302

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 Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3424
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3476
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4335
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3356
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3202
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2942
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3426
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3415
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3182
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3765
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3130
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3328
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3133
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3333
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3359
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3045
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3890
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3719
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3382
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3462
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$2955
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3089
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3748
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3553
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3634
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2826
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3070
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2810
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3756
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2957
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3071
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3317
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2850
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3285
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3818
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3230
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3255
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2114
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3227
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3254