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

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Lilongwe	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$587	$3957
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1406	$8247
🏠 One person rent	$251	$2805
🏘️ Family rent	$391	$4446
🍽️ Food expenses	$236	$765
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.5	$198
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$107	$6139
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	14	87
😀 Quality of life	29	91
🏙️ Population	989K	1.01M

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 85% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 8094th and 8th ($587 vs $3957) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th 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 1.6 months in San Jose, United States. Lilongwe ranked 2nd best city to live in Malawi vs San Jose, United States ranked 25th in the United States, while ranked 8818th and 126th among best cities to live in the world.

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<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	$4.43	$24.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.5	$95
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.88	$12.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.55	$9.09
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$5.96
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.43	$3.6
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$373	$3010
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$2448
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$608	$4541
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$207	$4005
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.3	$169
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.2	$259
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.5	$74.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.88%	6.1%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7658	$8786
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$432	$8977
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.93	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.6	$90
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.7	$24.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.31	$1.38
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$1.66
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.98	$4.78
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$4.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.32	$5.56
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13	$21.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$13.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.97	$21.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$5.52
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$2.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$5.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$5.33
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.09	$3.55
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$3.1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$1.73
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.07	$3.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.2	$15.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.88	$2.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.71	$11.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.11	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.1	$6.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.76	$6.96
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.67	$2.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$28.9	$111
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.53	$17.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$16.9	$128
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.62	$21
👖 Brand Jeans	$23.2	$59.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.4	$100
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$350	$1815
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2337	$23151

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	$516
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$489
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$494
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$452
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$559
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$495
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$792
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$522
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$456
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$1132
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$1015
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$755
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$780
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$629
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$691
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$925
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$463
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$754
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$692
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$875
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$933
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$777
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$1166
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$1304
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1602
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$727
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$1378
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$952
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$677
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1125
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1511
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$565
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1167
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$840
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$849
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$1029
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$632
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$495
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$417
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$813

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3460
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3625
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4184
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3368
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3217
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2928
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3345
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3387
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3194
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3808
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3172
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3616
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3234
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3356
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3357
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3075
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3728
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3582
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3357
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3486
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3073
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3029
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3698
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3577
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3588
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2822
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3088
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2822
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3797
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2968
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3043
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3310
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2848
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3276
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3873
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3261
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3559
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2088
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3252
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3273