Cost of living comparison

Sierra Leone

compared to

Botswana

Gaborone vs. Freetown Cost of Living Summary

Gaborone is 25.7% cheaper than Freetown.

Restaurants: pay 45.0% more in Gaborone
Groceries: pay 29.6% less in Gaborone
Transportation: pay 52.1% more in Gaborone
Housing: pay 66.5% less in Gaborone
Entertainment and Sports: pay 7.8% less in Gaborone
Clothing: pay 3.0 times more in Gaborone

The cost of clothing, transportation, and restaurants in Gaborone are more expensive than in Freetown. Expenses including housing, groceries, and entertainment and sports are lower in Gaborone. Notably, clothing is significantly more expensive in Gaborone.

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Gaborone vs. Freetown Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Gaborone instead of Freetown, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 45.0% more for restaurants

	Freetown	Gaborone
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.00 SLL41,939	$10.85 BWP148.87	+442.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.00 SLL231K	$5.79 BWP79.40	-47.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.83 SLL38,444	$0.72 BWP9.92	-60.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.85 SLL17,805	$0.42 BWP5.71	-51.0%
Average			+45.0%

Freetown vs. Gaborone - Cost of restaurants

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pay 29.6% less for groceries

	Freetown	Gaborone
Bread 1 loaf	$0.66 SLL13,755	$0.88 BWP12.02	+33.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.54 SLL74,319	$3.16 BWP43.42	-10.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$9.15 SLL192K	$5.47 BWP75.12	-40.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.81 SLL38,023	$2.47 BWP33.83	+36.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.54 SLL95,116	$2.11 BWP28.88	-53.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$3.18 SLL66,581	$0.75 BWP10.31	-76.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.36 SLL28,535	$0.64 BWP8.75	-53.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.32 SLL6,742	$0.90 BWP12.38	+180.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.27 SLL47,558	$0.74 BWP10.15	-67.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.91 SLL19,023	$0.58 BWP7.97	-36.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.74 SLL15,488	$0.53 BWP7.25	-28.4%
Average			-29.6%

Freetown vs. Gaborone - Cost of groceries

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pay 52.1% more for transportation

	Freetown	Gaborone
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.02 SLL105K	$5.15 BWP70.71	+2.8%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$29.66 BWP406.91
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$12,000.00 SLL252M	$19,891.73 BWP273K	+65.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$4.50 SLL94,363	$20.87 BWP286.32	+363.7%
Average			+52.1%

Freetown vs. Gaborone - Cost of transportation

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pay 66.5% less for housing

	Freetown	Gaborone
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$55.00 SLL1M	$42.10 BWP577.61	-23.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$928.33 SLL19M	$356.36 BWP4,889.51	-61.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,261.67 SLL26M	$221.34 BWP3,036.92	-82.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$45.88 SLL962K	$45.63 BWP626.12	-0.5%
Average			-66.5%

Freetown vs. Gaborone - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Freetown	Gaborone
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$127.13 BWP1,744.25
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$2,500.03 BWP34,301.86

Freetown vs. Gaborone - Cost of childcare

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pay 7.8% less for entertainment and sports

	Freetown	Gaborone
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.25 SLL47,181	$1.99 BWP27.29	-11.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.76 SLL57,878	$2.32 BWP31.83	-16.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.00 SLL62,908	$3.62 BWP49.62	+20.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	??	$33.58 BWP460.78
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$6.15 BWP84.36
Average			-7.8%

Freetown vs. Gaborone - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 3.0 times more for clothing

	Freetown	Gaborone
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$10.00 SLL210K	$47.53 BWP652.19	+375.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$16.75 BWP229.75
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$20.00 SLL419K	$72.33 BWP992.46	+261.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$50.00 SLL1M	$78.36 BWP1,075.16	+56.7%
Average			+199.8%

Freetown vs. Gaborone - 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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See the cost of living in Sierra Leone vs. Botswana. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Sierra Leone and Botswana.

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