Lusaka vs Riyadh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Lusaka	Riyadh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$738	$1637
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2249	$3629
🏠 One person rent	$312	$944
🏘️ Family rent	$948	$1530
🍽️ Food expenses	$239	$375
🚐 Transport expenses	$127	$183
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$333	$2731
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	37	72
😀 Quality of life	49	78
🏙️ Population	2.47M	7.01M

The cost of living in Lusaka is 55% less expensive than in Riyadh. Cities ranked 6726th and 2911th ($738 vs $1637) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 6th and 1st in Zambia and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Check Zambia vs Saudi Arabia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Lusaka compared to 1.7 months in Riyadh. Lusaka ranked 1st best city to live in Zambia vs Riyadh ranked 1st in Saudi Arabia, while ranked 6269th and 733rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Lusaka vs Riyadh infographic

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Prices in Lusaka vs Riyadh

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

	Lusaka	Riyadh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$6.95	$9.31
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$27	$53.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.8	$8.02
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.91	$1.88
☕ Cappuccino	$2.02	$4.16
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.64	$0.76
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$194	$1001
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$109	$748
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1082	$2174
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$641	$1140
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$60.8	$69.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$94.7	$107
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$125	$75.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	21.29%	5.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2003	$2485
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4875	$1703
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.23	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$36.8	$37.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$12	$18.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.22	$0.61
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.34	$1.71
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.75	$1.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$2.33
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.79	$2.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.27	$8.14
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.63	$9.75
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.83	$13.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.33	$2.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$1.7
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.63	$1.86
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$1.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.98	$1.36
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.97	$2.14
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.86	$8.71
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.09	$1.72
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.37	$7.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.66	$2.8
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.39	$4.03
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.17	$2.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.07	$5.22
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.9	$102
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.6	$16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$52.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.45	$7.23
👖 Brand Jeans	$18.3	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$89.8	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$176	$404
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9642	$10598

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Lusaka

Distance	City	Cost of living
166 km or 103 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$687
209 km or 130 mi	Choma	$700
275 km or 171 mi	Ndola	$541
289 km or 179 mi	Kitwe	$917
297 km or 184 mi	Chinhoyi	$646
318 km or 198 mi	Mufulira	$1018
322 km or 200 mi	Chingola	$875
370 km or 230 mi	Kadoma	$723
373 km or 232 mi	Livingstone	$688
399 km or 248 mi	Harare	$992
411 km or 255 mi	Chitungwiza	$873
426 km or 265 mi	Lubumbashi	$1050
429 km or 267 mi	Kwekwe	$730
464 km or 288 mi	Marondera	$794
475 km or 295 mi	Mansa	$776
478 km or 297 mi	Gweru	$597
521 km or 324 mi	Likasi	$961
529 km or 329 mi	Bulawayo	$766
574 km or 356 mi	Tete	$825
584 km or 363 mi	Masvingo	$854
605 km or 376 mi	Kolwezi	$975
611 km or 380 mi	Mutare	$752
613 km or 381 mi	Lilongwe	$587
645 km or 401 mi	Francistown	$624
658 km or 409 mi	Kasama	$748
686 km or 426 mi	Chimoio	$947
688 km or 428 mi	Ntcheu	$492
694 km or 431 mi	Mzimba	$566
721 km or 448 mi	Blantyre	$507
729 km or 453 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
756 km or 470 mi	Zomba	$457
757 km or 471 mi	Mangochi	$493
762 km or 474 mi	Mzuzu	$525
775 km or 482 mi	Mulanje	$461
792 km or 492 mi	Serowe	$583
802 km or 499 mi	Palapye	$540
852 km or 529 mi	Beira	$1003
869 km or 540 mi	Mahalapye	$631
917 km or 570 mi	Mbeya	$461
956 km or 594 mi	Quelimane	$675

Cities near Riyadh

Distance	City	Cost of living
310 km or 193 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
316 km or 196 mi	Unaizah	$969
350 km or 217 mi	Ar Rass	$861
389 km or 242 mi	Dhahran	$1068
394 km or 245 mi	Dammam	$1056
395 km or 245 mi	Jubail	$901
417 km or 259 mi	Qatif	$897
420 km or 261 mi	Riffa	$1223
421 km or 262 mi	Isa Town	$1243
426 km or 265 mi	Manama	$1280
460 km or 286 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
480 km or 298 mi	As Sulayyil	$1041
491 km or 305 mi	Doha	$1779
496 km or 308 mi	Al Khor	$1709
540 km or 336 mi	Kuwait City	$1393
595 km or 369 mi	Ha'il	$846
611 km or 379 mi	Umm Qasr	$740
618 km or 384 mi	Al-Faw	$736
631 km or 392 mi	Bushehr	$551
646 km or 401 mi	Az Zubayr	$723
652 km or 405 mi	Abadan	$547
658 km or 409 mi	Basra	$904
659 km or 410 mi	Khorramshahr	$544
668 km or 415 mi	Bisha	$905
680 km or 423 mi	Borazjan	$546
701 km or 436 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$548
713 km or 443 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
714 km or 443 mi	Nasiriyah	$672
719 km or 447 mi	Medina	$1215
737 km or 458 mi	Kazerun	$557
747 km or 464 mi	Behbahan	$536
754 km or 469 mi	Samawah	$582
766 km or 476 mi	Ahvaz	$597
775 km or 481 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
790 km or 491 mi	Mecca	$979
798 km or 496 mi	Shiraz	$589
800 km or 497 mi	Amarah	$683
804 km or 499 mi	Bareq	$902
804 km or 500 mi	Jahrom	$547
823 km or 511 mi	Yasuj	$529