KampalaUganda
Kampala is a U.S. Foreign Service post in Uganda, in the State Department's Sub-Saharan Africa bureau, with a 35% hardship differential and 5% post allowance (COLA). The current U.S. travel advisory for Uganda is Level 4, do not travel. It is a designated R&R post. Daily life runs on English and Luganda, and Swahili will also get you by. Bidders will find 1 international school for mission families and summers to 82°F, winters to 63°F, ~225 rain days/yr. This post report brings together allowances, schools, safety, weather, flights, embassy holidays, and anonymous community reviews from Foreign Service families who have served in Kampala.
What stands out
How Kampala differs from the other 255 posts, worked out from the data on this page.
- In its favour: Mild year-round: 63°F to 82°F between the coldest and hottest months
- In its favour: English is a daily-life language
- Note: 35% hardship differential, higher than 91% of posts
- Worth knowing: Level 4 travel advisory: crime, terrorism, civil unrest and health
- Worth knowing: Rain on about 225 days a year
Against Washington, DC
The same measurements, taken the same way, for the city most bidders are leaving.
- Hottest month averages 82°F, 6° cooler than a Washington summer
- Coldest month averages lows of 63°F, 35° milder than a Washington winter
- Rain on 225 days a year, against 124 in Washington
- Everyday prices run about 65% below US levels
- About 39 unhealthy-air days a year, against 2 in Washington
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Climate & weather
Temperature range, F
Rain days
Air quality, monthly PM2.5 (ug/m3)
Green under 12 (good) · amber to 35 (moderate) · red above (unhealthy for sensitive groups)
Real data: Open-Meteo archive (2022-2024 daily, temperature, rain, daylight) and Open-Meteo air quality API (CAMS, hourly PM2.5 2022-2025), aggregated to monthly normals.
Public holidays 202612 national holidays
Real data: Nager holidays API. Local and religious observances vary; the embassy publishes the official combined holiday schedule.
Pay & allowances
Paycheck simulator
What Kampala's allowances actually do to your pay, estimate only
| Base salary | $100,000 |
| Hardship differential (35%)taxable, % of base | $35,000 |
| COLA (5%)non-taxable, % of spendable income | $2,425 |
| Estimated annual total | $137,425 |
Estimate only, for planning purposes; figures may not reflect the most recent DSSR updates. COLA is applied to spendable income (approximated here at 48.5% of salary, the official tables vary by salary and family size). Grade/step fills from the official Overseas Schedule (includes Overseas Comparability Pay); taxes and premium-pay caps are not modeled. Allowance rates: allowances.state.gov, fetched 2026-11-02. Verify current rates in the DSSR and with your HR office before making career decisions.
Community & mission
Community ratings COMMUNITY-REPORTED
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What do these categories mean?
- Housing
- Community average (1-5) for assigned housing: size, condition, commute, and how the housing pool compares to expectations. Housing type (government-leased, compound, apartments) is on each post page.
- School rating
- Community average (1-5) of how families rated the schools their kids actually attended: academics, support for arriving mid-year, special needs, and how happy the kids were. Reviewers' grade levels vary, read individual reviews for your kids' ages.
- Morale
- Community average (1-5) for overall post morale, the intangible sum of community, leadership, workload, and whether people would bid it again. Often the number seasoned bidders read first.
- Internet (community rating)
- How livable the internet actually felt (1-5): reliability and VPN-friendliness, not just headline speed. Can diverge from the measured Mbps, outages and throttling show up here first.
- Spouse / partner employment
- Community average (1-5) of how realistic it is for an accompanying spouse or partner (EFM) to work at this post. It reflects three paths: jobs inside the mission (EFM positions), local-economy work (depends on the bilateral work agreement and language), and remote work for a U.S. employer (depends on time zone and internet). 1 ≈ career pause likely · 5 ≈ multiple realistic options.
- Healthcare
- Community average (1-5) for healthcare at post: local care you would actually use, English-speaking providers, and how much falls back on regional medevac, a real factor for families and chronic conditions.
Foreign Service overlay
- Housing
- Family members working locally
- Bilateral work agreement: accredited spouses and dependents may seek work on the local economy in Uganda.Status changes, and the HR officer at post has the final word. State's list ↗
- Language training
- English is a daily-life language here, so most jobs need no language training.
- Allowances source
- allowances.state.gov (public) · fetched 2026-11-02
Housing and EFM notes are crowdsourced from the community, never from internal systems.
Location
- Local time right now
- --:--:--
- Coordinates
- 0.35, 32.58
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Elevation
- 1,174 m (3,852 ft)
Life at post
The parts the fact sheet leaves out
Getting away
Nonstop routes for R&R, long weekends, and getting home · official R&R relief point: London, UK
Cheapest weekend round trips · typical fares
Also nonstop
Family visiting? US passport holders need an eVisa, stays up to 3 months. Yellow fever certificate required for all arrivals.
~$ = typical round-trip economy fare, refreshed monthly, plan with it, don't book with it. Routes fetched from Wikipedia (Airlines & destinations), 2026-11-01.
Health
- Malaria (CDC)
- All areas; atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline, mefloquine, or tafenoquine
- Yellow fever (CDC)
- Vaccine recommended for all travelers; certificate required for all arrivals.
Security & context
- Official U.S. travel advisory
- Level 4: Do Not Travel Read the full advisory ↗Risks the advisory names: crime, terrorism, civil unrest and health.Real data: travel.state.gov, fetched 2026-11-02
- Earthquake exposure
- Moderate seismicity, 10 quakes of M5+ within 300 km since 2000.Real data: USGS earthquake catalog.
- What crime looks like
- Governance & daily freedom
- Relations with the US
Home & daily life
- Messaging apps
- No blocking measured: WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram connect normally in network tests from Uganda.Measured by OONI volunteers over the last 60 days, country-wide. A network test, not a legal statement.
- Power & plugs
Plug type: G · 240V 50Hz , US plugs won't fit, bring adapters. Phone and laptop chargers are fine on 240V; only US-only appliances (hair dryers, kitchen gear) need a transformer.
- Household help
Getting around & fitting in
- Getting around
- Rules of the road (and the bar)
- Drives on the leftDriving age 18Drinking age 18Road deaths 29.4/100k (US ~14)
- Language
- EnglishLugandaSwahili gets you by
Tell the posts page what you speak to filter all posts by your languages. It is never shown to anyone.
LGBTQ+ travelers
Official State Dept guidance for Uganda · page updated December 11, 2025
The May 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) includes penalties up to life imprisonment for consensual same-sex relations and capital punishment for crimes of “aggravated homosexuality” (such as serial offenders). Youth under the age of 18 could be prosecuted and imprisoned for multi-year sentences. LGB persons, including youth, may be subject to forced conversion therapy. LGB persons, or persons perceived to be LGB, could face harassment, imprisonment, blackmail, and violence, with heightened risk surrounding the passage of the AHA; The public is required to report to the police a person suspected of committing or intending to commit acts enumerated in the law. Hoteliers are not permitted to knowingly provide rooms to individuals who may commit acts deemed illegal in the AHA. Individuals or organizations viewed as publicly supporting the dignity and human rights of LGB persons could be prosecuted and imprisoned for multi-year sentence, including those that attend a same-sex marriage either inside or outside of Uganda’s borders. LGB organizations or those that advocate for the human rights of LGB persons may be deemed illegal under the law. See our LGB Travel Information page and section 6 of our Human Rights Report for further details. Importation of Healthcare Products : Individuals and organizations seeking to bring or import healthcare products, including medicines and medical devices, are responsible for ensuring the importation is in accordance with the Uganda National Drug Policy and Authority Act. This includes donated products intended to support medical assistance efforts. The importation of expired products is prohibited, and many products require a market authorization issued by the Uganda National Drug Authority to be legally imported. Prohibited items are subject to seizure and importers can face criminal and civil action. Inquiries and applications for import authorizations should be sent to the Uganda National Drug Authority via [email protected] .
Same-sex spouse and MOH accreditation is decided post by post and is not published publicly. Community reviews are the best read on how it works here in practice, and glifaa (LGBTQ+ employees of foreign-affairs agencies) maintains member resources.
Money & prices
- Local currency
- Ugandan shilling · 4256 UGX/USD. Has weakened sharply against the dollar over 24 months (-16% vs. USD). A weakening currency stretches a dollar salary further; a strengthening one quietly shrinks it.
- Local inflation
- 3.6% CPI inflation (2025). High inflation means posted prices age fast, and COLA reviews chase reality.
- Overall price level
- Local prices run about 35% of US prices overall (World Bank PPP, 2025). Imported and expat-favorite goods usually cost more than this average suggests.US 100%
Schools & reviews
Schools
Education allowance
The yearly maximum State reimburses per child. Office of Allowances, effective 11/01/2026.
- Kindergarten
- $28,050
- Grades 1-5
- $30,950
- Grades 6-8
- $35,350
- Grades 9-10
- $36,550
- Grades 11-12
- $42,050
A higher away-from-post rate of $85,000 applies for grades 9 to 12. That is the rate that funds boarding school, and the Office generally sets it above the at-post rate only for grades it does not consider adequately served locally.
The Kampala directory is brand new. Served here? Pass along the pediatrician or dry cleaner the next family will need.
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Community reviews
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