Cost of living comparison

Zambia

compared to

Namibia

Windhoek vs. Lusaka Cost of Living Summary

Windhoek is 27.3% more expensive than Lusaka.

Restaurants: pay 59.0% more in Windhoek
Groceries: pay 10.8% less in Windhoek
Transportation: pay 27.2% more in Windhoek
Housing: pay 58.0% more in Windhoek
Childcare: pay 30.5% less in Windhoek
Entertainment and Sports: pay 6.5% less in Windhoek
Clothing: pay 92.2% more in Windhoek

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

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Windhoek vs. Lusaka Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 59.0% more for restaurants

	Lusaka	Windhoek
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.53 ZMW110.20	$11.42 NAD188.06	+106.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.03 ZMW100.18	$6.01 NAD98.98	+19.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.75 ZMW15.03	$0.84 NAD13.86	+11.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.47 ZMW9.39	$0.89 NAD14.69	+89.3%
Average			+59.0%

Lusaka vs. Windhoek - Cost of restaurants

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pay 10.8% less for groceries

	Lusaka	Windhoek
Bread 1 loaf	$1.20 ZMW23.92	$0.92 NAD15.09	-23.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.15 ZMW102.63	$4.69 NAD77.27	-8.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.52 ZMW129.88	$5.92 NAD97.42	-9.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.94 ZMW38.66	$3.12 NAD51.34	+60.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.87 ZMW57.22	$3.06 NAD50.45	+6.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.53 ZMW30.42	$0.99 NAD16.36	-34.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.10 ZMW21.94	$0.89 NAD14.59	-19.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.65 ZMW32.94	$0.84 NAD13.75	-49.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 ZMW13.88	$0.92 NAD15.07	+31.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.16 ZMW23.20	$0.90 NAD14.87	-22.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.83 ZMW16.51	$0.80 NAD13.24	-2.9%
Average			-10.8%

Lusaka vs. Windhoek - Cost of groceries

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pay 27.2% more for transportation

	Lusaka	Windhoek
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.77 ZMW115.01	$5.21 NAD85.71	-9.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$50.15 ZMW999.41	$48.10 NAD791.85	-4.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$7,541.11 ZMW150K	$23,990.15 NAD395K	+218.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$14.58 ZMW290.52	$8.00 NAD131.65	-45.2%
Average			+27.2%

Lusaka vs. Windhoek - Cost of transportation

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pay 58.0% more for housing

	Lusaka	Windhoek
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$54.99 ZMW1,095.72	$50.44 NAD830.34	-8.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$384.95 ZMW7,670.79	$500.55 NAD8,240.19	+30.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$179.40 ZMW3,574.79	$354.07 NAD5,828.90	+97.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$61.51 ZMW1,225.74	$108.00 NAD1,777.91	+75.6%
Average			+58.0%

Lusaka vs. Windhoek - Cost of housing

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pay 30.5% less for childcare

	Lusaka	Windhoek
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$138.25 ZMW2,754.96	$208.44 NAD3,431.35	+50.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,638.36 ZMW332K	$5,331.14 NAD87,763.39	-68.0%
Average			-30.5%

Lusaka vs. Windhoek - Cost of childcare

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pay 6.5% less for entertainment and sports

	Lusaka	Windhoek
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.26 ZMW25.05	$1.95 NAD32.17	+55.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.82 ZMW56.21	$2.30 NAD37.94	-18.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.02 ZMW60.11	$3.31 NAD54.44	+9.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$54.67 ZMW1,089.46	$37.08 NAD610.38	-32.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.03 ZMW120.22	$5.41 NAD89.08	-10.3%
Average			-6.5%

Lusaka vs. Windhoek - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 92.2% more for clothing

	Lusaka	Windhoek
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$23.28 ZMW463.85	$54.86 NAD903.20	+135.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$15.45 ZMW307.88	$34.63 NAD570.13	+124.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$45.19 ZMW900.42	$89.44 NAD1,472.35	+97.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$72.53 ZMW1,445.30	$94.70 NAD1,558.96	+30.6%
Average			+92.2%

Lusaka vs. Windhoek - 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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