Cost of living comparison

District of Columbia, USA

compared to

Rwanda

Rwanda vs. District of Columbia Cost of Living Summary

Rwanda is 72.8% cheaper than District of Columbia.

Restaurants: pay 78.7% less in Rwanda
Groceries: pay 72.5% less in Rwanda
Transportation: pay 25.6% less in Rwanda
Housing: pay 76.3% less in Rwanda
Childcare: pay 91.0% less in Rwanda
Entertainment and Sports: pay 79.7% less in Rwanda
Clothing: pay 73.5% less in Rwanda

Expenses including childcare, entertainment and sports, restaurants, housing, clothing, and groceries are lower in Rwanda.

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Rwanda vs. District of Columbia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Rwanda instead of District of Columbia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 78.7% less for restaurants

	District of Columbia	Rwanda
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$28.00	$2.71 RWF3,994	-90.3%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$12.00	$6.77 RWF9,986	-43.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$3.17	$0.78 RWF1,152	-75.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.64	$0.56 RWF824	-78.8%
Average			-78.7%

District of Columbia vs. Rwanda - Cost of restaurants

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pay 72.5% less for groceries

	District of Columbia	Rwanda
Bread 1 loaf	$4.11	$1.05 RWF1,544	-74.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.53	$2.11 RWF3,107	-75.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.95	$3.16 RWF4,662	-36.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.64	$1.63 RWF2,406	-71.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$7.63	$2.08 RWF3,070	-72.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$3.17	$1.09 RWF1,614	-65.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.06	$0.35 RWF521	-66.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.27	$0.69 RWF1,017	-69.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.64	$0.48 RWF705	-81.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.29	$0.23 RWF332	-82.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.73	$0.34 RWF498	-80.4%
Average			-72.5%

District of Columbia vs. Rwanda - Cost of groceries

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pay 25.6% less for transportation

	District of Columbia	Rwanda
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.19	$7.00 RWF10,316	+67.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$120.00	$25.40 RWF37,446	-78.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$36,375.00	$26,080.15 RWF38M	-28.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$16.73	$18.97 RWF27,960	+13.4%
Average			-25.6%

District of Columbia vs. Rwanda - Cost of transportation

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pay 76.3% less for housing

	District of Columbia	Rwanda
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$77.77	$21.00 RWF30,956	-73.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$2,717.33	$666.07 RWF982K	-75.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$2,228.89	$413.79 RWF610K	-81.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$161.22	$64.32 RWF94,815	-60.1%
Average			-76.3%

District of Columbia vs. Rwanda - Cost of housing

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pay 91.0% less for childcare

	District of Columbia	Rwanda
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$3,221.33	$112.90 RWF166K	-96.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$41,506.00	$9,510.48 RWF14M	-77.1%
Average			-91.0%

District of Columbia vs. Rwanda - Cost of childcare

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pay 79.7% less for entertainment and sports

	District of Columbia	Rwanda
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$9.00	$1.02 RWF1,498	-88.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$6.15	$2.42 RWF3,568	-60.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$13.94	$2.03 RWF2,996	-85.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$114.30	$26.72 RWF39,388	-76.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$18.00	$3.39 RWF4,993	-81.2%
Average			-79.7%

District of Columbia vs. Rwanda - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 73.5% less for clothing

	District of Columbia	Rwanda
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$71.42	$17.39 RWF25,630	-75.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$44.11	$15.58 RWF22,967	-64.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$104.50	$22.24 RWF32,786	-78.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$125.16	$33.87 RWF49,928	-72.9%
Average			-73.5%

District of Columbia vs. Rwanda - 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

Compare further: District of Columbia vs. Rwanda

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 5 statistics

Be 2.0 times more likely to live below the poverty line in Rwanda

Size Comparison · See true size

District of Columbia is about 149 times smaller than Rwanda.

Moving from District of Columbia to Rwanda · Cost, visas & climate

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