Lilongwe vs Victoria - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Lilongwe	Victoria
🚶 Cost of living one person	$587	$1637
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1406	$3633
🏠 One person rent	$251	$905
🏘️ Family rent	$391	$1518
🍽️ Food expenses	$236	$542
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.5	$66.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$107	$961
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	14	8
😀 Quality of life	29	49
🏙️ Population	989K	24.7K

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 64% less expensive than in Victoria. Cities ranked 8094th and 3452nd ($587 vs $1637) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Malawi and the Seychelles, respectively. Check Malawi vs the Seychelles comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Lilongwe compared to 0.6 months in Victoria. Lilongwe ranked 2nd best city to live in Malawi vs Victoria ranked 1st in the Seychelles, while ranked 8818th and 6808th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

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/victoria.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Lilongwe vs Victoria infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/lilongwe/victoria" target="_blank">Lilongwe vs Victoria - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Lilongwe vs Victoria

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

	Lilongwe	Victoria
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.43	$16.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.5	$53.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.88	$12.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.55	$5.24
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$6.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.43	$2.76
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$373	$899
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$694
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$608	$1586
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$207	$1239
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.3	$72
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.2	$111
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.5	$97.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.88%	12.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7658	$443
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$432	$1134
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.93	$0.81
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.6	$31.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.7	$30.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.31	$1.62
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.98	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$2.48
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.32	$4.21
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13	$12.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$7.67
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.97	$12.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$2.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$2.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$2.41
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$6.18
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.09	$1.84
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.83
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.89
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.07	$3.75
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.2	$11.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.88	$3.97
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.71	$18.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.11	$9.22
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.1	$7.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.76	$2.15
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.67	$1.85
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$28.9	$76.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.53	$8.93
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$16.9	$69
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.62	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$23.2	$58.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.4	$95.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$350	$144
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2337	$8750

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 Victoria

Distance	City	Cost of living
1346 km or 836 mi	Mogadishu	$721
1443 km or 897 mi	Mamoudzou	$1603
1470 km or 914 mi	Domoni	$1196
1556 km or 967 mi	Moroni	$1196
1569 km or 975 mi	Baidoa	$745
1642 km or 1020 mi	Toamasina	$511
1709 km or 1062 mi	Malindi	$563
1730 km or 1075 mi	Goodlands	$810
1730 km or 1075 mi	Triolet	$819
1742 km or 1083 mi	Port Louis	$802
1749 km or 1087 mi	Centre de Flacq	$665
1751 km or 1088 mi	Quatre Bornes	$688
1752 km or 1088 mi	Bambous	$747
1752 km or 1088 mi	Mombasa	$611
1759 km or 1093 mi	Curepipe	$871
1771 km or 1100 mi	Mahebourg	$820
1805 km or 1122 mi	Dar es Salaam	$735
1807 km or 1123 mi	Zanzibar	$586
1808 km or 1123 mi	Saint-Denis	$1503
1808 km or 1123 mi	Stone Town	$546
1810 km or 1124 mi	Antananarivo	$604
1811 km or 1125 mi	Sainte-Suzanne	$1551
1813 km or 1126 mi	Tanga	$533
1813 km or 1126 mi	La Possession	$1584
1814 km or 1127 mi	Le Port	$1615
1817 km or 1129 mi	Saint-Andre	$1563
1822 km or 1132 mi	Saint-Paul	$1663
1825 km or 1134 mi	Saint-Benoit	$1567
1840 km or 1143 mi	Saint-Leu	$1762
1852 km or 1151 mi	Le Tampon	$1559
1859 km or 1155 mi	Saint-Pierre	$1575
1863 km or 1158 mi	Saint-Joseph	$1444
1881 km or 1169 mi	Pemba	$1511
1925 km or 1196 mi	Antsirabe	$533
1953 km or 1214 mi	Nacala	$1167
1983 km or 1232 mi	Morogoro	$417
2014 km or 1252 mi	Moshi	$540
2021 km or 1256 mi	Hargeisa	$682
2045 km or 1271 mi	Meru	$543
2049 km or 1273 mi	Machakos	$415