Cost of living comparison

compared to

Lilongwe vs. St. George's Cost of Living Summary

Lilongwe is 18.2% more expensive than St. George's.

Restaurants: pay 33.4% less in Lilongwe
Groceries: pay 23.1% less in Lilongwe
Transportation: pay 34.7% less in Lilongwe
Housing: pay 40.6% less in Lilongwe
Childcare: pay 3.7 times more in Lilongwe
Entertainment and Sports: pay 24.7% less in Lilongwe

Expenses including housing, transportation, restaurants, entertainment and sports, and groceries are lower in Lilongwe. Notably, childcare is significantly more expensive in Lilongwe.

Lilongwe vs. St. George's Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Lilongwe instead of St. George's, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 33.4% less for restaurants

	St. George's	Lilongwe
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$7.40 EC$20.00	$5.00 MWK8,669.98	-32.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.33 EC$22.50	$10.25 MWK17,773.46	+23.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.85 EC$5.00	$0.94 MWK1,623.44	-49.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.57 EC$4.25	$0.40 MWK688.73	-74.7%
Average			-33.4%

St. George's vs. Lilongwe - Cost of restaurants

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pay 23.1% less for groceries

	St. George's	Lilongwe
Bread 1 loaf	$1.69 EC$4.57	$1.22 MWK2,122.82	-27.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.00 EC$13.52	$7.88 MWK13,662.81	+57.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$14.71 EC$39.75	$3.70 MWK6,422.36	-74.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.07 EC$11.00	$2.66 MWK4,603.91	-34.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.60 EC$7.04	$1.45 MWK2,507.70	-44.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.20 EC$3.25	$1.17 MWK2,023.08	-3.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.84 EC$2.27	$0.56 MWK978.00	-32.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.79 EC$2.13	$0.68 MWK1,179.79	-13.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.34 EC$3.63	$0.70 MWK1,209.37	-48.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.71 EC$1.91	$0.62 MWK1,078.11	-11.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.71 EC$1.91	$0.56 MWK977.42	-20.1%
Average			-23.1%

St. George's vs. Lilongwe - Cost of groceries

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pay 34.7% less for transportation

	St. George's	Lilongwe
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.12 EC$13.85	$6.09 MWK10,567.96	+18.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$37.00 EC$100.00	$4.32 MWK7,494.24	-88.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$24,976.41 EC$67,500.00	??
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	??
Average			-34.7%

St. George's vs. Lilongwe - Cost of transportation

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pay 40.6% less for housing

	St. George's	Lilongwe
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$46.87 EC$126.67	$62.37 MWK108,145.26	+33.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$579.70 EC$1,566.67	??
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$289.85 EC$783.33	$67.61 MWK117,238.07	-76.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$159.51 EC$431.09	$34.63 MWK60,044.15	-78.3%
Average			-40.6%

St. George's vs. Lilongwe - Cost of housing

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pay 3.7 times more for childcare

	St. George's	Lilongwe
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$55.50 EC$150.00	$350.00 MWK606,898.76	+530.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$2,331.13 EC$6,300.00	$2,349.49 MWK4,074,000.49	+0.8%
Average			+265.7%

St. George's vs. Lilongwe - Cost of childcare

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pay 24.7% less for entertainment and sports

	St. George's	Lilongwe
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.04 EC$5.50	$1.73 MWK3,007.12	-14.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.44 EC$12.00	$3.04 MWK5,273.38	-31.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.85 EC$5.00	$1.59 MWK2,751.05	-14.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$37.00 EC$100.00	$37.45 MWK64,937.85	+1.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.10 EC$30.00	$3.95 MWK6,850.26	-64.4%
Average			-24.7%

St. George's vs. Lilongwe - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	St. George's	Lilongwe
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$25.90 EC$70.00	??
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$44.40 EC$120.00	??
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$42.55 EC$115.00	??
Men's business shoes (leather)	$75.85 EC$205.00	??

St. George's vs. Lilongwe - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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