Kitwe
- Population
- 666,000
- Coordinates
- 12.80° S, 28.21° E
- Time zone
- Africa/Lusaka
- Prices for
- Sep 2026
Livability
Seven domain scores, weighted. 4 of them have data for Kitwe; a missing one is left out of the average, not counted as zero.
- Purchasing power25%No data
- Safetycountry20%52
- Health care15%No data
- Climate10%100
- Air quality10%66
- Connectivity10%8
- Cost10%No data
How each domain is scored
- Purchasing power, 25%
- What a local net salary buys against local prices, as a percentile.
- Safety, 20%
- Numbeo safety index for the city, or for its country when the city has no survey.
- Health care, 15%
- Numbeo health care index, city first, then country.
- Climate, 10%
- Numbeo climate index where surveyed, otherwise a comfort score from NASA climate normals.
- Air quality, 10%
- 30-day mean US AQI on a 0-100 scale: 100 at AQI 25 or cleaner, 0 at 150 or worse.
- Connectivity, 10%
- Percentile of median fixed broadband download speed, city first, then country.
- Cost, 10%
- Cheaper places score higher: the percentile of the cost-of-living plus rent index, inverted.
What it costs
Monthly figures, against New York.
Nobody has reported prices for Kitwe in the last twelve months, so there are no costs to show yet. See the cities of Zambia that have them.
Prices
55 everyday prices, the median of this month's contributions, each against a base you choose.
Differences are against New York; teal marks a price that is lower (or a salary that is higher).
| Item | Kitwe | New York | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants | |||
| Meal, inexpensive restaurant | — | $25.00 | — |
| Meal for 2, mid-range restaurant (3 courses) | — | $140 | — |
| McMeal at McDonald's (or equivalent combo meal) | — | $14.00 | — |
| Domestic beer (0.5 l, draught) | $2.00 | $8.00 | −75% |
| Imported beer (0.33 l bottle, restaurant) | $2.50 | $10.00 | −75% |
| Cappuccino (regular) | $2.50 | $6.38 | −61% |
| Coke/Pepsi (0.33 l bottle) | $0.60 | $3.80 | −84% |
| Water (0.33 l bottle) | $0.80 | $2.90 | −72% |
| Markets | |||
| Milk (1 l) | — | $1.36 | — |
| Loaf of fresh white bread (500g) | $1.00 | $4.69 | −79% |
| Rice, white (1 kg) | — | $6.97 | — |
| Eggs (12) | — | $5.73 | — |
| Local cheese (1 kg) | — | $17.38 | — |
| Chicken fillets (1 kg) | — | $15.11 | — |
| Beef round (1 kg, or equivalent red meat) | — | $17.77 | — |
| Apples (1 kg) | — | $6.11 | — |
| Bananas (1 kg) | — | $2.20 | — |
| Oranges (1 kg) | — | $5.77 | — |
| Tomato (1 kg) | — | $6.25 | — |
| Potato (1 kg) | — | $3.47 | — |
| Onion (1 kg) | — | $4.17 | — |
| Lettuce (1 head) | — | $2.72 | — |
| Water (1.5 l bottle) | — | $2.50 | — |
| Bottle of wine, mid-range | — | $20.00 | — |
| Domestic beer (0.5 l bottle) | $1.14 | $3.21 | −64% |
| Imported beer (0.33 l bottle) | $1.00 | $3.96 | −75% |
| Cigarettes (20 pack, Marlboro) | $2.50 | $19.00 | −87% |
| Transport | |||
| One-way ticket, local transport | — | $3.00 | — |
| Monthly pass, regular price | — | $140 | — |
| Taxi start, normal tariff | — | $3.00 | — |
| Taxi, 1 km, normal tariff | — | $2.18 | — |
| Taxi, 1 hour waiting, normal tariff | — | $42.00 | — |
| Gasoline (1 l) | $1.44 | $1.10 | +31% |
| Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (or equivalent new car) | — | $35,458 | — |
| Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.6l 97kW (or equivalent new car) | $30,000 | $25,309 | +19% |
| Utilities, per month | |||
| Basic utilities, 85m² apartment (electricity, heating, cooling, water, garbage) | — | $232 | — |
| Mobile plan (calls + 10GB data) | — | $73.50 | — |
| Internet (60 Mbps+, unlimited, cable/ADSL) | $100 | $71.93 | +39% |
| Sports and leisure | |||
| Fitness club, monthly fee (1 adult) | $15.00 | $126 | −88% |
| Tennis court rent (1 hour, weekend) | — | $62.38 | — |
| Cinema, 1 seat, international release | — | $23.00 | — |
| Childcare | |||
| Preschool, full day, private (monthly, 1 child) | $600 | $3,366 | −82% |
| International primary school (yearly, 1 child) | $12,000 | $60,589 | −80% |
| Clothing and shoes | |||
| 1 pair of jeans (Levi's 501 or similar) | — | $72.80 | — |
| 1 summer dress, chain store (Zara, H&M) | — | $53.22 | — |
| 1 pair of Nike running shoes, mid-range | — | $118 | — |
| 1 pair of men's leather business shoes | — | $125 | — |
| Rent, per month | |||
| Apartment (1 bedroom) in city centre | $1,200 | $4,438 | −73% |
| Apartment (1 bedroom) outside centre | — | $3,033 | — |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) in city centre | $2,500 | $9,242 | −73% |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) outside centre | $2,000 | $5,461 | −63% |
| Buying an apartment | |||
| Price per square meter, apartment in city centre | — | $18,759 | — |
| Price per square meter, apartment outside centre | — | $6,523 | — |
| Salary and financing | |||
| Average monthly net salary, after tax | — | $5,163 | — |
| Mortgage interest rate, 20-year fixed rate (%) | 36.00% | 6.49% | +29.5 pts |
Three years of prices
Each line starts at 100 in its first month, so a rise in rent can be read against a rise in salary on the same scale. The core basket is twelve everyday prices. Hover for the actual values.
Fewer than three months of prices so far; the trend appears once there is enough history.
Safety
Numbeo crime survey. Both indices run 0 to 100; they are two sides of the same answers.
Country-level: the livability score uses Zambia's safety figure
No crime survey has been published for Kitwe yet.
Quality of life
Numbeo's published indices for Kitwe. Listed as Numbeo computes them, next to this index's own figures above.
Numbeo has not ranked Kitwe on quality of life.
Climate
Monthly means from NASA POWER climate normals. Temperature bands use the same scale on every city page.
- Annual mean
- 21.3 °C
- Warmest monthOctober
- 26.7 °C
- Coldest monthJune
- 17.2 °C
- Rain a year
- 1,032 mm
- HumidityRelative, annual mean
- 63%
- SunshineSolar energy per day
- 5.7 kWh/m²
- Clear-sky daysA year
- 60
- Comfort score0-100, 100 at 14-22 °C
- 100
Air, internet and housing
The last 30 days of air, the latest month of broadband tests, and the property survey.
Air
- Unhealthy days
- 0AQI above 100
- Worst day
- 72
- PM2.5
- 12.6µg/m³, mean
- Air score
- 660-100
Internet
Measured in Kitwe- Upload
- 19Mbps, fixed
- Latency
- 49ms, fixed
- Mobile download
- —Mbps
- Mobile latency
- —ms
Speedtest Global Index, Aug 2026.
Housing
No property survey for Kitwe yet.
People & society
Who lives in Kitwe, and how Zambia lives together. Each figure says whether it describes the city or the whole country, and where it comes from.
- PopulationCity, Wikidata
- 625,000
- ElevationCity, Wikidata
- 1,200 m
- Median ageNational, CIA World Factbook
- 19.0 years
- Aged 65 and overNational, CIA World Factbook
- 2.8%
- Born abroadNational, World Bank
- 1.2%
Religion
National- Christian98%
- Muslim1.0%
- Other religions0.9%
- No religion0.5%
- Folk religions0.3%
- Hindu0.1%
Diversity index 0.05, where 0 means everyone shares one faith.
Source: Wikipedia, Religions by country, 2020
Languages
National- EnglishOfficial1.7%
- Nyanja15%
English is an official language.
Source: CIA World Factbook, 2010
How society works
NationalSix dimensions of national culture on one 0–100 scale.
Hofstede publishes no scores for Zambia; these are estimates for its region.
- You or your group27People look after their groupPeople look after themselves
- Equality36Hierarchy is acceptedPower is shared
- Rules and certainty52Relaxed about rules and surprisesClear rules, little left to chance
- Success or care41Caring and quality of life come firstAchievement and success come first
- Looking ahead30Tradition and quick resultsSaving and planning for the long run
- Enjoying life42Restraint and dutyFun and leisure matter
Source: Hofstede's cultural dimensions, 2015
Freedoms
NationalFreedom HousePartly free
- Freedom in the World Freedom House53
- Democracy Index EIU, out of 105.7
- Press freedom RSF57
- LGBTQ+ equality Equaldex9
- Women in parliament share of seats15%
Source: Freedom House, EIU and RSF via Wikipedia, Equaldex, World Bank, 2026
Happiness
NationalSource: World Happiness Report via Wikipedia, 2026
Cities like Kitwe
In other countries, with the closest livability score and cost of living index.
No comparable cities found yet.
About these numbers
What the figures on this page rest on.
- Confidence
- Low confidence
- Contributors
- 2Numbeo price survey
- Latest prices
- Sep 20261 readings that month
- Months with prices
- 7 of 12Last 12 months
- Items priced
- 35%13 basket items from the country median
- Location
- Matched to a GeoNames reference city
- Index rebuilt
- 26 Sept 2026