Cost of living comparison

Kenya

compared to

Uganda

Uganda vs. Kenya Cost of Living Summary

Uganda is 6.9% more expensive than Kenya overall.

Restaurants: pay 25.2% less in Uganda
Groceries: pay 8.1% more in Uganda
Transportation: pay 31.7% less in Uganda
Housing: pay 50.9% more in Uganda
Childcare: pay 9.9% more in Uganda
Entertainment and Sports: pay 3.2% less in Uganda
Clothing: pay 12.5% less in Uganda

The cost of housing, childcare, and groceries in Uganda are more expensive than in Kenya. Expenses including transportation, restaurants, clothing, and entertainment and sports are lower in Uganda.

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Uganda vs. Kenya Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Uganda instead of Kenya, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 25.2% less for restaurants

	Kenya	Uganda
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.96 KES513.81	$2.45 UGX10,151	-38.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.49 KES842.08	$7.36 UGX30,452	+13.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.58 KES74.64	$0.37 UGX1,523	-36.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.57 KES73.50	$0.27 UGX1,107	-52.7%
Average			-25.2%

Kenya vs. Uganda - Cost of restaurants

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pay 8.1% more for groceries

	Kenya	Uganda
Bread 1 loaf	$0.57 KES73.38	$0.91 UGX3,747	+60.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.04 KES654.07	$2.18 UGX9,009	-56.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$2.81 KES364.50	$2.90 UGX11,976	+3.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.68 KES218.44	$1.58 UGX6,530	-6.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.61 KES338.09	$2.05 UGX8,472	-21.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.14 KES147.75	$0.95 UGX3,939	-16.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.42 KES55.09	$0.57 UGX2,353	+34.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.63 KES81.85	$0.59 UGX2,430	-6.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.34 KES43.54	$0.54 UGX2,225	+60.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.33 KES42.99	$0.56 UGX2,302	+68.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.35 KES45.50	$0.56 UGX2,302	+58.7%
Average			+8.1%

Kenya vs. Uganda - Cost of groceries

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pay 31.7% less for transportation

	Kenya	Uganda
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.72 KES742.41	$5.31 UGX21,961	-7.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.03 KES3,896.40	$42.68 UGX177K	+42.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$19,967.15 KES3M	$7,361.98 UGX30M	-63.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.32 KES1,598.52	$2.94 UGX12,181	-76.1%
Average			-31.7%

Kenya vs. Uganda - Cost of transportation

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pay 50.9% more for housing

	Kenya	Uganda
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$33.50 KES4,347.14	$34.66 UGX143K	+3.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$208.27 KES27,025.43	$482.64 UGX2M	+131.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$163.35 KES21,195.68	$167.36 UGX692K	+2.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$34.61 KES4,490.62	$53.08 UGX220K	+53.4%
Average			+50.9%

Kenya vs. Uganda - Cost of housing

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pay 9.9% more for childcare

	Kenya	Uganda
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$167.67 KES21,757.09	$251.43 UGX1M	+50.0%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$10,284.02 KES1M	$8,279.19 UGX34M	-19.5%
Average			+9.9%

Kenya vs. Uganda - Cost of childcare

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pay 3.2% less for entertainment and sports

	Kenya	Uganda
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.14 KES278.31	$1.23 UGX5,075	-42.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.44 KES316.97	$2.53 UGX10,471	+3.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.21 KES417.11	$2.45 UGX10,151	-23.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$32.05 KES4,158.65	$55.21 UGX228K	+72.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.52 KES1,106.12	$7.36 UGX30,452	-13.6%
Average			-3.2%

Kenya vs. Uganda - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 12.5% less for clothing

	Kenya	Uganda
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$16.22 KES2,105.20	$13.80 UGX57,098	-14.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$20.38 KES2,645.16	$12.88 UGX53,292	-36.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$35.38 KES4,590.56	$31.90 UGX132K	-9.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$35.71 KES4,633.90	$43.25 UGX179K	+21.1%
Average			-12.5%

Kenya vs. Uganda - 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: Kenya vs. Uganda

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Uganda?

Quality of Life Comparison · 20 statistics

Be 74.4% less likely to have internet access in Uganda

Size Comparison · See true size

Kenya is about 2.4 times bigger than Uganda.

Moving from Kenya to Uganda · UN DESA 2020

34,241 people born in Kenya live in Uganda.

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