Cost of living comparison
compared to
Lilongwe vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost of Living Summary
Lilongwe is 6.3% cheaper than Ho Chi Minh City.
Lilongwe vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost Breakdown
If you lived in Lilongwe instead of Ho Chi Minh City, you would:
pay 2.3 times more for restaurants
|
Ho Chi Minh City
|
Lilongwe
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$1.92
₫49,832
|
$5.00
MWK8,683.00
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$4.62
₫120K
|
$10.25
MWK17,800.16
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$0.54
₫13,905
|
$1.26
MWK2,182.36
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$0.33
₫8,590
|
$0.57
MWK984.76
|
|
Ho Chi Minh City vs. Lilongwe - Cost of restaurants
pay 22.1% more for groceries
|
Ho Chi Minh City
|
Lilongwe
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$1.08
₫27,843
|
$1.82
MWK3,155.26
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$6.05
₫157K
|
$7.88
MWK13,683.33
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$6.13
₫159K
|
$4.73
MWK8,212.45
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$1.62
₫42,008
|
$2.90
MWK5,041.67
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$1.64
₫42,570
|
$2.38
MWK4,131.01
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$1.36
₫35,261
|
$1.17
MWK2,026.12
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$0.58
₫14,953
|
$0.56
MWK979.47
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$0.72
₫18,715
|
$0.68
MWK1,181.56
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$0.58
₫14,918
|
$1.03
MWK1,786.72
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$0.54
₫14,104
|
$0.92
MWK1,593.81
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$0.53
₫13,662
|
$0.45
MWK787.71
|
|
Ho Chi Minh City vs. Lilongwe - Cost of groceries
pay 9.6% less for transportation
|
Ho Chi Minh City
|
Lilongwe
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$3.55
₫91,950
|
$6.03
MWK10,463.30
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$11.55
₫299K
|
$4.32
MWK7,505.49
|
|
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$30,715.02
₫795M
|
?? | |
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$5.80
₫150K
|
?? | |
Ho Chi Minh City vs. Lilongwe - Cost of transportation
pay 43.4% less for housing
|
Ho Chi Minh City
|
Lilongwe
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$10.46
₫271K
|
$61.21
MWK106K
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$585.86
₫15M
|
$540.71
MWK939K
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$297.81
₫8M
|
$85.13
MWK148K
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$79.24
₫2M
|
$34.63
MWK60,134.34
|
|
Ho Chi Minh City vs. Lilongwe - Cost of housing
pay 20.2% less for childcare
|
Ho Chi Minh City
|
Lilongwe
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$438.36
₫11M
|
$350.00
MWK608K
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$23,561.82
₫610M
|
?? | |
Ho Chi Minh City vs. Lilongwe - Cost of childcare
pay 65.4% more for entertainment and sports
|
Ho Chi Minh City
|
Lilongwe
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$1.03
₫26,762
|
$2.20
MWK3,823.26
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$1.81
₫46,978
|
$3.21
MWK5,580.44
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$1.23
₫31,892
|
$2.43
MWK4,223.25
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$25.91
₫671K
|
$30.85
MWK53,568.54
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$3.46
₫89,697
|
?? | |
Ho Chi Minh City vs. Lilongwe - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay (unknown) more for clothing
|
Ho Chi Minh City
|
Lilongwe
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$51.59
₫1M
|
?? | |
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$34.61
₫896K
|
?? | |
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$91.59
₫2M
|
?? | |
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$94.62
₫2M
|
?? |
Ho Chi Minh City vs. Lilongwe - Cost of clothing
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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