Lilongwe vs Sofia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Lilongwe	Sofia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$587	$1037
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1571	$2570
🏠 One person rent	$251	$499
🏘️ Family rent	$555	$871
🍽️ Food expenses	$237	$357
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$79.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$275	$1394
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	13	70
😀 Quality of life	20	78
🏙️ Population	989K	1.4M

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 43% less expensive than in Sofia. Cities ranked 7807th and 5261st ($587 vs $1037) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Malawi and Bulgaria, respectively. Check Malawi vs Bulgaria comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Lilongwe compared to 1.3 months in Sofia. Lilongwe ranked 4th best city to live in Malawi vs Sofia ranked 1st in Bulgaria, while ranked 8847th and 723rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Lilongwe vs Sofia infographic

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Prices in Lilongwe vs Sofia

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

	Lilongwe	Sofia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.27	$9.19
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.2	$42.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.14	$8.07
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.37	$2.53
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$2.48
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.93	$1.59
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$373	$500
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$376
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$362	$979
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$474	$663
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.6	$85.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$132
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.1	$12.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.4%	3.16%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10555	$3192
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$588	$2153
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.91	$0.87
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.7	$25.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.67	$7.59
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.35	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$1.75
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$0.94
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$1.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.29	$3.7
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$8.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4	$12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$2.44
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$0.98
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$1.46
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$7.58
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.91	$1.04
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$3.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.11	$9.3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$3.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.68	$2.55
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$28.8	$33.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$7.97
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$39.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.6	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$23.1	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.4	$99.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$349	$538
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2351	$6749

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

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 Sofia

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Pernik	$682
59 km or 37 mi	Vratsa	$687
77 km or 48 mi	Blagoevgrad	$576
97 km or 60 mi	Bansko	$866
100 km or 62 mi	Pazardzhik	$667
132 km or 82 mi	Pleven	$594
132 km or 82 mi	Plovdiv	$734
135 km or 84 mi	Nis	$711
142 km or 88 mi	Stip	$561
146 km or 91 mi	Kumanovo	$588
148 km or 92 mi	Vidin	$605
149 km or 92 mi	Asenovgrad	$616
151 km or 94 mi	Strumica	$612
164 km or 102 mi	Gabrovo	$598
168 km or 104 mi	Veles	$545
175 km or 108 mi	Skopje	$772
176 km or 110 mi	Pristina	$595
178 km or 110 mi	Kavadarci	$556
180 km or 112 mi	Serres	$988
185 km or 115 mi	Drama	$891
186 km or 116 mi	Craiova	$848
191 km or 119 mi	Stara Zagora	$646
193 km or 120 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$731
202 km or 125 mi	Mitrovica	$463
202 km or 126 mi	Haskovo	$619
208 km or 129 mi	Tetovo	$682
210 km or 130 mi	Prilep	$537
210 km or 131 mi	Slatina	$623
215 km or 134 mi	Kavala	$930
215 km or 134 mi	Alexandria	$629
217 km or 135 mi	Xanthi	$948
222 km or 138 mi	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	$663
224 km or 139 mi	Giannitsa	$1028
232 km or 144 mi	Thessaloniki	$1106
234 km or 145 mi	Novi Pazar	$662
242 km or 150 mi	Kragujevac	$807
245 km or 152 mi	Sliven	$631
246 km or 153 mi	Komotini	$899
248 km or 154 mi	Bitola	$635
248 km or 154 mi	Ruse	$633