Everyday Grocery Prices in Zambia versus the USA
When we talk to people in the United States about the cost of living here, prices, exchange rates, and currency conversions, there’s a general assumption that living in a developing nation must be much cheaper than living in a developed nation. This is often simply not the case.
Zambia is a landlocked country. Much of what we consume here is imported, and imported goods are, of necessity, more expensive than the same goods in the United States. We also lack the market size of the United States. When you have over 350 million affluent people in the U.S., there’s a massive market for things like cheese, dairy, and consumer goods, which drives prices down. A developing country simply doesn’t have that same market.
We live in a city of about four million people, but only a fraction of those four million ever shop at a Western-style grocery store, and only a fraction of that fraction can regularly afford items like ground beef, chicken breast, canned peaches, cheese, or dairy. Because that real market is so small, there’s never the economy of scale in a developing nation that would let stores deliver these kinds of goods cheaply. The average Zambian in a basic, entry-level job is making somewhere between fifty and a hundred dollars a month. The items at this shop simply aren’t within reach for most people here. It’s a whole different standard of living.
All prices on this page are shown in U.S. measurements — gallons, pounds, ounces, and the package sizes an American shopper would find on the shelf. Goods here are sold in liters, grams, and kilograms, so those figures have been converted.
Last updated: August 2026. Zambian prices come from Shoprite receipts in Lusaka (March and May 2026) and from store flyers, converted at approximately 1 ZMW = $0.0530 USD, or K18.86 to the dollar. U.S. prices are the national average price published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 2026, except where an item has no published series.
It is worth noting that many items in Zambia, such as toilet paper and paper towels, are much smaller per roll than what is normal in the United States. It is also worth noting that some products — cleaning products, paper products, and even some produce items like apples and dried beans — are of noticeably lower quality here.
The point is not that everything here costs more. Seven items on this list run higher than they do in the States. Thirteen run lower. Three come out even. Buy one of each and the Zambian total lands within a few percent of the American one. What changes is which items. Dairy and imported goods sit well above U.S. prices, while locally grown and locally made goods sit below. Averaged out, the trip to the store costs about what it would at home.
| Item | Size | Zambia | USA | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rice, white | 1 lb | $1.20 | $1.10 | Zambia ~9% higher |
| Bread, brown loaf | 1.5 lb loaf | $1.32 | $2.73 | Zambia ~52% lower |
| Eggs, large | dozen | $2.13 | $2.19 | About even |
| Milk, whole | gallon | $6.02 | $4.31 | Zambia ~40% higher |
| Cheddar cheese | 8 oz block | $4.28 | $2.98 | Zambia ~44% higher |
| Butter, salted | 1 lb, 4 sticks | $9.89 | $3.92 | Zambia ~152% higher |
| Cooking oil | 48 oz, priced from a 5 litre container | $3.16 | $3.74 | Zambia ~15% lower |
| Chicken breast, boneless | 1 lb | $3.08 | $4.15 | Zambia ~26% lower |
| Ground beef | 1 lb | $3.08 | $6.89 | Zambia ~55% lower |
| Pasta | 16 oz box | $1.28 | $1.37 | Zambia ~7% lower |
| Sugar, white | 1 lb | $0.70 | $1.02 | Zambia ~32% lower |
| Dry beans | 1 lb | $1.27 | $1.69 | Zambia ~25% lower |
| Peanut butter | 16 oz jar | $3.91 | $2.92 | Zambia ~34% higher |
| Potatoes, white | 1 lb | $0.43 | $0.92 | Zambia ~53% lower |
| Apples, red | 1 lb | $0.72 | $1.16 | Zambia ~38% lower |
| Green beans, fresh | 1 lb | $1.37 | $0.82 | Zambia ~67% higher |
| Bell peppers | each | $0.71 | $1.27 | Zambia ~44% lower |
| Canned peaches | 15 oz can | $2.18 | $1.72 | Zambia ~27% higher |
| Ketchup | 20 oz bottle | $3.91 | $3.78 | About even |
| Toilet paper | 18-roll pack | $11.40 | $14.62 | Zambia ~22% lower |
| Liquid hand soap | 7.5 oz pump | $0.81 | $1.24 | Zambia ~35% lower |
| Multi-surface disinfectant | 28 oz spray bottle | $3.81 | $4.17 | Zambia ~9% lower |
| Laundry detergent, powder | 1 lb | $1.60 | $1.58 | About even |
This pattern lines up closely with what is manufactured locally versus imported. Locally produced goods — ground beef, chicken, sugar, potatoes, bread, and household items like toilet paper, hand soap, and laundry detergent — run cheaper here. Imported goods — cheese, butter, milk, and cooking oil — run higher, and dairy is the worst of it. A pound of butter costs $9.89 here against $3.92 in the States, which is roughly a tenth of a month of entry-level wages for one box of butter. Rice is the odd one out: grown locally and still slightly pricier than in the U.S. Apples come up by road from South Africa and stay cheaper despite being imported.
We’re building this comparison out with more everyday items over time — check back as we add more.
Note: prices and exchange rates change regularly. This table is updated by hand whenever we have fresh data, rather than an automatic live feed, so please treat these as a snapshot rather than today’s exact price. Where noted, Zambian prices come from an actual store receipt at regular price; otherwise they are from promotional flyers advertising sale prices. U.S. prices are national average grocery prices. A few entries use standard package-size approximations where an exact size was not available.