Lubumbashi vs Mbabane - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Lubumbashi	Mbabane
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1050	$562
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3163	$1439
🏠 One person rent	$489	$245
🏘️ Family rent	$1593	$484
🍽️ Food expenses	$329	$202
🚐 Transport expenses	$158	$55.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1100	$701
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	14	16
😀 Quality of life	17	38
🏙️ Population	1.79M	60.7K

The cost of living in Lubumbashi is 87% more expensive than in Mbabane. Cities ranked 5160th and 8102nd ($1050 vs $562) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in the DR Congo and Eswatini, respectively. Check the DR Congo vs Eswatini comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1 months in Lubumbashi compared to 1.2 months in Mbabane. Lubumbashi ranked 2nd best city to live in the DR Congo vs Mbabane ranked 1st in Eswatini, while ranked 8961st and 7231st among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Lubumbashi vs Mbabane infographic

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Prices in Lubumbashi vs Mbabane

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

	Lubumbashi	Mbabane
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.5	$2.96
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$38.4	$27.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.26	$2.22
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.31	$1.78
☕ Cappuccino	$3.34	$1.65
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$0.9
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$694	$221
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$227	$159
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2119	$487
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1165	$360
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$130	$45.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$199	$70.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.4	$27.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.13%	11.73%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6963	$330
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$495	$245
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1	$1.09
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$62.7	$28.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.7	$25.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.24	$1.14
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.64	$1.03
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.92	$0.74
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.22
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.25	$1.63
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.95	$8.71
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.39	$4.82
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.47
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$0.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.02	$0.9
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.72	$1.33
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$1.22
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.01	$0.49
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.95	$1.12
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.6	$5.45
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.11	$1.42
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.1	$2.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.26	$4.16
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.52	$3.07
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.59	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.79	$1.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$69.8	$27.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.08	$3.51
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$30.1	$17.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.53	$4.52
👖 Brand Jeans	$20.2	$43.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$63.9	$70.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$101	$104
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5003	$4495

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Lubumbashi

Distance	City	Cost of living
107 km or 67 mi	Chingola	$875
110 km or 68 mi	Likasi	$961
131 km or 82 mi	Mufulira	$1018
152 km or 94 mi	Kitwe	$917
165 km or 102 mi	Mansa	$776
193 km or 120 mi	Ndola	$541
242 km or 150 mi	Kolwezi	$975
289 km or 180 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$687
426 km or 265 mi	Lusaka	$738
437 km or 272 mi	Kasama	$748
575 km or 357 mi	Choma	$700
668 km or 415 mi	Kalemie	$747
668 km or 415 mi	Gandajika	$828
668 km or 415 mi	Mzimba	$566
680 km or 423 mi	Mwene-Ditu	$843
697 km or 433 mi	Chinhoyi	$646
708 km or 440 mi	Livingstone	$688
717 km or 445 mi	Mzuzu	$525
724 km or 450 mi	Mbeya	$461
732 km or 455 mi	Lilongwe	$587
749 km or 465 mi	Mbuji-Mayi	$1011
786 km or 489 mi	Harare	$992
788 km or 490 mi	Kadoma	$723
802 km or 498 mi	Chitungwiza	$873
822 km or 510 mi	Luena	$634
829 km or 515 mi	Tete	$825
845 km or 525 mi	Kananga	$976
847 km or 526 mi	Marondera	$794
850 km or 528 mi	Kwekwe	$730
851 km or 529 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
856 km or 532 mi	Ntcheu	$492
877 km or 545 mi	Makamba	$647
901 km or 560 mi	Mangochi	$493
902 km or 561 mi	Gweru	$597
906 km or 563 mi	Rutana	$648
935 km or 581 mi	Blantyre	$507
936 km or 581 mi	Tshikapa	$934
937 km or 583 mi	Uvira	$803
945 km or 587 mi	Bujumbura	$719
946 km or 588 mi	Zomba	$457

Cities near Mbabane

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Manzini	$442
136 km or 85 mi	Matola	$964
148 km or 92 mi	Maputo	$1068
165 km or 103 mi	Vryheid	$763
171 km or 106 mi	Bethal	$784
179 km or 111 mi	Middelburg	$795
271 km or 168 mi	Springs	$678
284 km or 176 mi	Benoni	$785
287 km or 178 mi	Xai-Xai	$1003
301 km or 187 mi	Centurion	$807
304 km or 189 mi	Pretoria	$906
311 km or 193 mi	Sandton	$953
311 km or 193 mi	Johannesburg	$993
316 km or 196 mi	Randburg	$837
324 km or 201 mi	Vereeniging	$672
329 km or 204 mi	Soweto	$923
334 km or 207 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
348 km or 216 mi	Brits	$820
370 km or 230 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
394 km or 245 mi	Durban	$809
398 km or 247 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
399 km or 248 mi	Rustenburg	$889
406 km or 252 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
416 km or 259 mi	Kroonstad	$768
451 km or 280 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
461 km or 287 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
477 km or 296 mi	Welkom	$748
491 km or 305 mi	Maseru	$621
546 km or 339 mi	Mafeteng	$567
555 km or 345 mi	Mmabatho	$780
559 km or 347 mi	Gaborone	$691
564 km or 350 mi	Lobatse	$665
566 km or 352 mi	Mahalapye	$631
576 km or 358 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
585 km or 363 mi	Palapye	$540
601 km or 374 mi	Kanye	$664
608 km or 378 mi	Molepolole	$628
628 km or 390 mi	Serowe	$583
628 km or 390 mi	Mthatha	$852
682 km or 424 mi	Francistown	$624