Cost of living comparison

Zambia

compared to

Sierra Leone

Freetown vs. Lusaka Cost of Living Summary

Freetown is 43.0% more expensive than Lusaka.

Restaurants: pay 3.5% less in Freetown
Groceries: pay 1.1% less in Freetown
Transportation: pay 3.6% less in Freetown
Housing: pay 3.0 times more in Freetown
Entertainment and Sports: pay 25.0% more in Freetown
Clothing: pay 49.2% less in Freetown

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

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Freetown vs. Lusaka Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 3.5% less for restaurants

	Lusaka	Freetown
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.53 ZMW110.20	$2.00 SLL41,939	-63.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.03 ZMW100.18	$11.00 SLL231K	+118.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.75 ZMW15.03	$1.83 SLL38,444	+143.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.47 ZMW9.39	$0.85 SLL17,805	+80.2%
Average			-3.5%

Lusaka vs. Freetown - Cost of restaurants

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pay 1.1% less for groceries

	Lusaka	Freetown
Bread 1 loaf	$1.20 ZMW23.92	$0.66 SLL13,755	-45.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.15 ZMW102.63	$3.54 SLL74,319	-31.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.52 ZMW129.88	$9.15 SLL192K	+40.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.94 ZMW38.66	$1.81 SLL38,023	-6.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.87 ZMW57.22	$4.54 SLL95,116	+58.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.53 ZMW30.42	$3.18 SLL66,581	+108.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.10 ZMW21.94	$1.36 SLL28,535	+23.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.65 ZMW32.94	$0.32 SLL6,742	-80.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 ZMW13.88	$2.27 SLL47,558	+225.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.16 ZMW23.20	$0.91 SLL19,023	-22.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.83 ZMW16.51	$0.74 SLL15,488	-10.9%
Average			-1.1%

Lusaka vs. Freetown - Cost of groceries

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pay 3.6% less for transportation

	Lusaka	Freetown
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.77 ZMW115.01	$5.02 SLL105K	-13.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$50.15 ZMW999.41	??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$7,541.11 ZMW150K	$12,000.00 SLL252M	+59.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$14.58 ZMW290.52	$4.50 SLL94,363	-69.1%
Average			-3.6%

Lusaka vs. Freetown - Cost of transportation

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pay 3.0 times more for housing

	Lusaka	Freetown
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$54.99 ZMW1,095.72	$55.00 SLL1M
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$384.95 ZMW7,670.79	$928.33 SLL19M	+141.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$179.40 ZMW3,574.79	$1,261.67 SLL26M	+603.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$61.51 ZMW1,225.74	$45.88 SLL962K	-25.4%
Average			+196.9%

Lusaka vs. Freetown - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Lusaka	Freetown
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$138.25 ZMW2,754.96	??
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,638.36 ZMW332K	??

Lusaka vs. Freetown - Cost of childcare

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pay 25.0% more for entertainment and sports

	Lusaka	Freetown
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.26 ZMW25.05	$2.25 SLL47,181	+79.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.82 ZMW56.21	$2.76 SLL57,878	-2.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.02 ZMW60.11	$3.00 SLL62,908	-0.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$54.67 ZMW1,089.46	??
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.03 ZMW120.22	??
Average			+25.0%

Lusaka vs. Freetown - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 49.2% less for clothing

	Lusaka	Freetown
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$23.28 ZMW463.85	$10.00 SLL210K	-57.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$15.45 ZMW307.88	??
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$45.19 ZMW900.42	$20.00 SLL419K	-55.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$72.53 ZMW1,445.30	$50.00 SLL1M	-31.1%
Average			-49.2%

Lusaka 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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See the cost of living in Zambia vs. Sierra Leone. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Zambia and Sierra Leone.

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