Cost of living comparison

Rwanda

compared to

Sierra Leone

Freetown vs. Kigali Cost of Living Summary

Freetown is 34.7% more expensive than Kigali.

Restaurants: pay 17.4% more in Freetown
Groceries: pay 95.6% more in Freetown
Transportation: pay 48.2% less in Freetown
Housing: pay 77.9% more in Freetown
Entertainment and Sports: pay 56.6% more in Freetown
Clothing: pay 8.6% less in Freetown

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

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Freetown vs. Kigali Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 17.4% more for restaurants

	Kigali	Freetown
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.71 RWF4,005	$2.00 SLL41,939	-26.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.77 RWF10,013	$11.00 SLL231K	+62.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.78 RWF1,155	$1.83 SLL38,444	+134.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.56 RWF826	$0.85 SLL17,805	+51.9%
Average			+17.4%

Kigali vs. Freetown - Cost of restaurants

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pay 95.6% more for groceries

	Kigali	Freetown
Bread 1 loaf	$1.05 RWF1,548	$0.66 SLL13,755	-37.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$2.11 RWF3,115	$3.54 SLL74,319	+68.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.16 RWF4,675	$9.15 SLL192K	+189.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.63 RWF2,412	$1.81 SLL38,023	+11.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.08 RWF3,078	$4.54 SLL95,116	+117.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.09 RWF1,618	$3.18 SLL66,581	+190.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.35 RWF522	$1.36 SLL28,535	+285.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.69 RWF1,019	$0.32 SLL6,742	-53.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.48 RWF707	$2.27 SLL47,558	+374.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.23 RWF333	$0.91 SLL19,023	+302.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.34 RWF499	$0.74 SLL15,488	+118.7%
Average			+95.6%

Kigali vs. Freetown - Cost of groceries

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pay 48.2% less for transportation

	Kigali	Freetown
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.00 RWF10,345	$5.02 SLL105K	-28.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$25.40 RWF37,550	??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$26,080.15 RWF39M	$12,000.00 SLL252M	-54.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$18.97 RWF28,037	$4.50 SLL94,363	-76.3%
Average			-48.2%

Kigali vs. Freetown - Cost of transportation

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pay 77.9% more for housing

	Kigali	Freetown
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$21.00 RWF31,041	$55.00 SLL1M	+161.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$666.07 RWF985K	$928.33 SLL19M	+39.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$413.79 RWF612K	$1,261.67 SLL26M	+204.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$64.32 RWF95,077	$45.88 SLL962K	-28.7%
Average			+77.9%

Kigali vs. Freetown - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Kigali	Freetown
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$112.90 RWF167K	??
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$9,510.48 RWF14M	??

Kigali vs. Freetown - Cost of childcare

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pay 56.6% more for entertainment and sports

	Kigali	Freetown
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.02 RWF1,502	$2.25 SLL47,181	+121.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.42 RWF3,578	$2.76 SLL57,878	+14.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.03 RWF3,004	$3.00 SLL62,908	+47.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$26.72 RWF39,497	??
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.39 RWF5,007	??
Average			+56.6%

Kigali vs. Freetown - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 8.6% less for clothing

	Kigali	Freetown
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$17.39 RWF25,701	$10.00 SLL210K	-42.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$15.58 RWF23,031	??
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$22.24 RWF32,877	$20.00 SLL419K	-10.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$33.87 RWF50,067	$50.00 SLL1M	+47.6%
Average			-8.6%

Kigali vs. Freetown - 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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