Cost of living comparison

Lesotho

compared to

Botswana

Gaborone vs. Maseru Cost of Living Summary

Gaborone is 55.6% more expensive than Maseru.

Restaurants: pay 14.5% less in Gaborone
Groceries: pay 11.8% less in Gaborone
Transportation: pay 12.4% more in Gaborone
Housing: pay 3.6 times more in Gaborone
Childcare: pay 2.3 times more in Gaborone
Entertainment and Sports: pay 15.6% more in Gaborone
Clothing: pay 42.1% less in Gaborone

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

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Gaborone vs. Maseru Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Gaborone instead of Maseru, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 14.5% less for restaurants

	Maseru	Gaborone
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$9.01 LSL148.38	$10.85 BWP148.87	+20.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.41 LSL138.49	$5.79 BWP79.40	-31.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.07 LSL17.56	$0.72 BWP9.92	-32.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.84 LSL13.85	$0.42 BWP5.71	-50.6%
Average			-14.5%

Maseru vs. Gaborone - Cost of restaurants

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pay 11.8% less for groceries

	Maseru	Gaborone
Bread 1 loaf	$0.83 LSL13.60	$0.88 BWP12.02	+6.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.30 LSL54.39	$3.16 BWP43.42	-4.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.38 LSL72.07	$5.47 BWP75.12	+25.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.54 LSL25.32	$2.47 BWP33.83	+60.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.79 LSL45.98	$2.11 BWP28.88	-24.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.85 LSL14.02	$0.75 BWP10.31	-11.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.02 LSL16.71	$0.64 BWP8.75	-37.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.23 LSL20.19	$0.90 BWP12.38	-26.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.09 LSL17.95	$0.74 BWP10.15	-32.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.71 LSL11.66	$0.58 BWP7.97	-18.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.73 LSL12.00	$0.53 BWP7.25	-27.5%
Average			-11.8%

Maseru vs. Gaborone - Cost of groceries

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pay 12.4% more for transportation

	Maseru	Gaborone
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.98 LSL81.93	$5.15 BWP70.71	+3.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.04 LSL494.60	$29.66 BWP406.91	-1.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$21,030.86 LSL346K	$19,891.73 BWP273K	-5.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.01 LSL98.92	$20.87 BWP286.32	+247.3%
Average			+12.4%

Maseru vs. Gaborone - Cost of transportation

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pay 3.6 times more for housing

	Maseru	Gaborone
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$38.30 LSL630.53	$42.10 BWP577.61	+9.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$93.14 LSL1,533.25	$356.36 BWP4,889.51	+282.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$55.58 LSL915.01	$221.34 BWP3,036.92	+298.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	??	$45.63 BWP626.12
Average			+262.3%

Maseru vs. Gaborone - Cost of housing

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pay 2.3 times more for childcare

	Maseru	Gaborone
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$52.06 LSL857.06	$127.13 BWP1,744.25	+144.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$1,181.73 LSL19,454.17	$2,500.03 BWP34,301.86	+111.6%
Average			+127.3%

Maseru vs. Gaborone - Cost of childcare

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pay 15.6% more for entertainment and sports

	Maseru	Gaborone
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.80 LSL29.68	$1.99 BWP27.29	+10.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.00 LSL32.97	$2.32 BWP31.83	+15.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.11 LSL84.08	$3.62 BWP49.62	-29.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$23.03 LSL379.19	$33.58 BWP460.78	+45.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$6.15 BWP84.36
Average			+15.6%

Maseru vs. Gaborone - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 42.1% less for clothing

	Maseru	Gaborone
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$46.07 LSL758.38	$47.53 BWP652.19	+3.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$55.58 LSL915.01	$16.75 BWP229.75	-69.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$104.15 LSL1,714.61	$72.33 BWP992.46	-30.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$150.22 LSL2,472.99	$78.36 BWP1,075.16	-47.8%
Average			-42.1%

Maseru vs. Gaborone - 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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