Cost of living comparison

Sierra Leone

compared to

South Africa

Pretoria vs. Freetown Cost of Living Summary

Pretoria is 7.9% cheaper than Freetown.

Restaurants: pay 45.4% more in Pretoria
Groceries: pay 27.8% less in Pretoria
Transportation: pay 72.7% more in Pretoria
Housing: pay 46.3% less in Pretoria
Entertainment and Sports: pay 1.4% less in Pretoria
Clothing: pay 3.4 times more in Pretoria

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

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Pretoria vs. Freetown Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 45.4% more for restaurants

	Freetown	Pretoria
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.00 SLL41,939	$9.01 ZAR148.66	+350.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.00 SLL231K	$5.41 ZAR89.20	-50.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.83 SLL38,444	$1.06 ZAR17.48	-42.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.85 SLL17,805	$0.85 ZAR14.04	+0.3%
Average			+45.4%

Freetown vs. Pretoria - Cost of restaurants

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pay 27.8% less for groceries

	Freetown	Pretoria
Bread 1 loaf	$0.66 SLL13,755	$1.10 ZAR18.21	+68.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.54 SLL74,319	$4.18 ZAR68.94	+17.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$9.15 SLL192K	$4.45 ZAR73.36	-51.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.81 SLL38,023	$2.47 ZAR40.74	+36.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.54 SLL95,116	$2.23 ZAR36.86	-50.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$3.18 SLL66,581	$0.79 ZAR13.10	-75.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.36 SLL28,535	$0.74 ZAR12.22	-45.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.32 SLL6,742	$0.79 ZAR13.11	+147.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.27 SLL47,558	$0.72 ZAR11.92	-68.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.91 SLL19,023	$0.50 ZAR8.18	-45.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.74 SLL15,488	$0.54 ZAR8.93	-26.7%
Average			-27.8%

Freetown vs. Pretoria - Cost of groceries

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pay 72.7% more for transportation

	Freetown	Pretoria
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.02 SLL105K	$5.75 ZAR94.81	+14.6%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$177.56 ZAR2,928.68
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$12,000.00 SLL252M	$35,391.94 ZAR584K	+194.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$4.50 SLL94,363	$6.55 ZAR108.03	+45.5%
Average			+72.7%

Freetown vs. Pretoria - Cost of transportation

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pay 46.3% less for housing

	Freetown	Pretoria
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$55.00 SLL1M	$36.83 ZAR607.50	-33.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$928.33 SLL19M	$454.27 ZAR7,492.67	-51.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,261.67 SLL26M	$405.14 ZAR6,682.45	-67.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$45.88 SLL962K	$115.49 ZAR1,904.94	+151.7%
Average			-46.3%

Freetown vs. Pretoria - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Freetown	Pretoria
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$260.78 ZAR4,301.35
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$7,821.75 ZAR129K

Freetown vs. Pretoria - Cost of childcare

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pay 1.4% less for entertainment and sports

	Freetown	Pretoria
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.25 SLL47,181	$2.55 ZAR42.12	+13.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.76 SLL57,878	$2.25 ZAR37.17	-18.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.00 SLL62,908	$3.25 ZAR53.60	+8.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	??	$31.49 ZAR519.46
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$7.21 ZAR118.93
Average			-1.4%

Freetown vs. Pretoria - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 3.4 times more for clothing

	Freetown	Pretoria
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$10.00 SLL210K	$53.03 ZAR874.71	+430.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$32.00 ZAR527.89
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$20.00 SLL419K	$91.85 ZAR1,515.02	+359.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$50.00 SLL1M	$82.87 ZAR1,366.87	+65.7%
Average			+243.0%

Freetown vs. Pretoria - 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. South Africa. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Sierra Leone and South Africa.

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