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

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Lilongwe	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$587	$3810
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1571	$8485
🏠 One person rent	$251	$2688
🏘️ Family rent	$555	$4744
🍽️ Food expenses	$237	$759
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$175
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$275	$6191
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	13	87
😀 Quality of life	20	92
🏙️ Population	989K	1.01M

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 85% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 7807th and 8th ($587 vs $3810) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th 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 0.5 months in Lilongwe compared to 1.6 months in San Jose, United States. Lilongwe ranked 4th best city to live in Malawi vs San Jose, United States ranked 11th in the United States, while ranked 8847th and 82nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Lilongwe vs San Jose, United States infographic

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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	$4.27	$21
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.2	$100
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.14	$10.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.37	$8.92
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$5.89
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.93	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$373	$2643
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$2388
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$362	$5083
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$474	$4230
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.6	$179
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$274
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.1	$69.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.4%	6.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10555	$9512
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$588	$9578
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.91	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.7	$90.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.67	$18.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.35	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$1.33
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$4.73
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$3.45
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.29	$5.03
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$19.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$16.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4	$19.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$6.55
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$2.32
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$3.75
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$6.42
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$3.84
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$3.44
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$1.93
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$2.38
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$14.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.91	$2.24
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$11.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.11	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$6.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$7.05
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.68	$2.51
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$28.8	$129
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$14.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$149
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.6	$20.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$23.1	$48.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.4	$77.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$349	$1805
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2351	$25839

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 San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3362
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3419
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4167
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3287
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3131
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2828
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3448
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3295
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3159
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3752
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3090
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3187
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3060
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3286
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3326
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$3002
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3649
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3412
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3344
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3448
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3006
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3096
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3437
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3657
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3466
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2811
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3059
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2747
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3678
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$3041
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$2963
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3269
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$3045
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3226
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$3785
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3195
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3364
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2135
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3185
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$2968