Cost of living comparison

Mali

compared to

Argentina

Buenos Aires vs. Bamako Cost of Living Summary

Buenos Aires is 86.5% more expensive than Bamako.

Restaurants: pay 98.7% more in Buenos Aires
Groceries: pay 21.8% less in Buenos Aires
Transportation: pay 25.6% more in Buenos Aires
Housing: pay 3.9 times more in Buenos Aires
Entertainment and Sports: pay 32.9% more in Buenos Aires

The cost of housing, restaurants, entertainment and sports, and transportation in Buenos Aires are more expensive than in Bamako. Notably, housing and restaurants are significantly more expensive in Buenos Aires.

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Buenos Aires vs. Bamako Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Buenos Aires instead of Bamako, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 98.7% more for restaurants

	Bamako	Buenos Aires
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.50 F CFA4,963	$19.02 ARS28,866.32	+123.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.18 F CFA4,777	$12.96 ARS19,665.62	+58.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.93 F CFA540	$2.01 ARS3,045.90	+117.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.68 F CFA394	$1.59 ARS2,416.05	+135.8%
Average			+98.7%

Bamako vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of restaurants

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pay 21.8% less for groceries

	Bamako	Buenos Aires
Bread 1 loaf	$3.84 F CFA2,240	$2.48 ARS3,759.89	-35.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.91 F CFA5,201	$5.25 ARS7,963.26	-41.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.22 F CFA4,214	$5.52 ARS8,376.92	-23.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.92 F CFA3,454	$2.81 ARS4,263.15	-52.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$7.08 F CFA4,135	$4.60 ARS6,980.53	-35.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.81 F CFA1,059	$1.28 ARS1,941.83	-29.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.48 F CFA278	$0.97 ARS1,476.48	+104.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.28 F CFA749	$0.65 ARS986.80	-49.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.95 F CFA557	$0.92 ARS1,393.13	-3.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.56 F CFA326	$0.56 ARS848.63	+0.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.52 F CFA305	$0.56 ARS844.64	+6.5%
Average			-21.8%

Bamako vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of groceries

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pay 25.6% more for transportation

	Bamako	Buenos Aires
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.20 F CFA2,452	$5.28 ARS8,007.28	+25.6%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$27.50 ARS41,738.12
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$28,500.00 ARS43M
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$9.60 ARS14,570.40
Average			+25.6%

Bamako vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of transportation

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pay 3.9 times more for housing

	Bamako	Buenos Aires
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$65.00 F CFA37,949	$31.11 ARS47,219.03	-52.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$175.00 F CFA102K	$770.79 ARS1M	+340.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$80.00 F CFA46,706	$509.75 ARS774K	+537.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$114.71 F CFA66,968	$162.43 ARS247K	+41.6%
Average			+285.4%

Bamako vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Bamako	Buenos Aires
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$464.87 ARS706K
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$8,896.36 ARS14M

Bamako vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of childcare

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pay 32.9% more for entertainment and sports

	Bamako	Buenos Aires
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.39 F CFA1,393	$3.95 ARS6,000.47	+65.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.67 F CFA974	$3.86 ARS5,864.06	+131.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	??	$4.21 ARS6,386.17
Monthly membership at local gym	$70.00 F CFA40,868	$49.97 ARS75,848.75	-28.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$10.38 ARS15,757.84
Average			+32.9%

Bamako vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Bamako	Buenos Aires
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$120.49 ARS183K
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$95.69 ARS145K
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$115.94 ARS176K
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$138.37 ARS210K

Bamako vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

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