Cost of living comparison

Kenya

compared to

Zambia

Zambia vs. Kenya Cost of Living Summary

Zambia is 22.1% more expensive than Kenya overall.

Restaurants: pay 2.5% more in Zambia
Groceries: pay 79.9% more in Zambia
Transportation: pay 15.0% less in Zambia
Housing: pay 26.4% more in Zambia
Childcare: pay 15.5% more in Zambia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 3.7% less in Zambia
Clothing: pay 29.6% more in Zambia

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

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Zambia vs. Kenya Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 2.5% more for restaurants

	Kenya	Zambia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.96 KES513.81	$5.53 ZMW110.20	+39.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.49 KES842.08	$5.03 ZMW100.18	-22.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.58 KES74.64	$0.63 ZMW12.52	+9.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.57 KES73.50	$0.36 ZMW7.20	-36.2%
Average			+2.5%

Kenya vs. Zambia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 79.9% more for groceries

	Kenya	Zambia
Bread 1 loaf	$0.57 KES73.38	$1.18 ZMW23.48	+108.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.04 KES654.07	$5.15 ZMW102.63	+2.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$2.81 KES364.50	$6.37 ZMW126.88	+126.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.68 KES218.44	$1.77 ZMW35.36	+5.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.61 KES338.09	$2.87 ZMW57.22	+10.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.14 KES147.75	$1.11 ZMW22.03	-2.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.42 KES55.09	$1.10 ZMW21.94	+159.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.63 KES81.85	$1.65 ZMW32.94	+162.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.34 KES43.54	$0.70 ZMW13.88	+107.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.33 KES42.99	$1.16 ZMW23.20	+251.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.35 KES45.50	$0.83 ZMW16.51	+136.3%
Average			+79.9%

Kenya vs. Zambia - Cost of groceries

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pay 15.0% less for transportation

	Kenya	Zambia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.72 KES742.41	$5.47 ZMW108.98	-4.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.03 KES3,896.40	$50.15 ZMW999.41	+67.0%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$19,967.15 KES3M	$7,541.11 ZMW150K	-62.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.32 KES1,598.52	$14.58 ZMW290.52	+18.3%
Average			-15.0%

Kenya vs. Zambia - Cost of transportation

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pay 26.4% more for housing

	Kenya	Zambia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$33.50 KES4,347.14	$54.99 ZMW1,095.72	+64.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$208.27 KES27,025.43	$280.45 ZMW5,588.55	+34.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$163.35 KES21,195.68	$165.11 ZMW3,290.10	+1.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$34.61 KES4,490.62	$61.51 ZMW1,225.74	+77.7%
Average			+26.4%

Kenya vs. Zambia - Cost of housing

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pay 15.5% more for childcare

	Kenya	Zambia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$167.67 KES21,757.09	$138.25 ZMW2,754.96	-17.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$10,284.02 KES1M	$16,638.36 ZMW332K	+61.8%
Average			+15.5%

Kenya vs. Zambia - Cost of childcare

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pay 3.7% less for entertainment and sports

	Kenya	Zambia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.14 KES278.31	$1.26 ZMW25.05	-41.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.44 KES316.97	$2.82 ZMW56.21	+15.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.21 KES417.11	$3.02 ZMW60.11	-6.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$32.05 KES4,158.65	$54.67 ZMW1,089.46	+70.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.52 KES1,106.12	$6.03 ZMW120.22	-29.2%
Average			-3.7%

Kenya vs. Zambia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 29.6% more for clothing

	Kenya	Zambia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$16.22 KES2,105.20	$23.28 ZMW463.85	+43.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$20.38 KES2,645.16	$15.45 ZMW307.88	-24.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$35.38 KES4,590.56	$45.19 ZMW900.42	+27.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$35.71 KES4,633.90	$72.53 ZMW1,445.30	+103.1%
Average			+29.6%

Kenya vs. Zambia - 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. Zambia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Zambia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 20 statistics

Be 51.1% less likely to have internet access in Zambia

Size Comparison · See true size

Kenya is about 1.3 times smaller than Zambia.

Moving from Kenya to Zambia · UN DESA 2020

660 people born in Kenya live in Zambia.

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