Amsterdam vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Amsterdam	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3118	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7329	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$2031	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$3485	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$654	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$260	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4702	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	95	100
😀 Quality of life	96	77
🏙️ Population	921K	24.9M

The cost of living in Amsterdam is 176% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 143rd and 4879th ($3118 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th in the Netherlands and China, respectively. Check the Netherlands vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Amsterdam compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Amsterdam ranked 1st best city to live in the Netherlands vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 31st and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Amsterdam vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Amsterdam vs Shanghai

Prices for goods and services in Amsterdam and Shanghai are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Amsterdam	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.3	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$103	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15.4	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.2	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$4.94	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.76	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2130	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1705	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3833	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2970	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$191	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$292	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$51	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.81%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10418	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7591	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.92	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$113	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$33.2	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.31	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.56	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.47	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.6	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.8	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.8	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.9	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.6	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.47	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.04	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.85	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.23	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.82	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$14.2	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.84	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.62	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.5	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.96	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$55.9	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$17.3	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$44.2	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$37.4	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$103	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$124	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2892	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19920	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Amsterdam

Distance	City	Cost of living
14 km or 8.8 mi	Purmerend	$2178
18 km or 11 mi	Haarlem	$2589
21 km or 13 mi	IJmuiden	$2252
22 km or 14 mi	Almere	$2230
25 km or 16 mi	Zandvoort	$1846
26 km or 16 mi	Hilversum	$2568
26 km or 16 mi	Huizen	$2256
35 km or 22 mi	Langedijk	$2235
36 km or 22 mi	Utrecht	$2718
38 km or 23 mi	Leiden	$2222
38 km or 24 mi	Oegstgeest	$2134
40 km or 25 mi	Zeist	$2414
42 km or 26 mi	Lelystad	$1514
48 km or 30 mi	Leidschendam	$2392
49 km or 30 mi	Harderwijk	$2111
52 km or 32 mi	The Hague	$2581
53 km or 33 mi	Scheveningen	$2374
55 km or 34 mi	Delft	$2228
57 km or 36 mi	Dronten	$2011
59 km or 36 mi	Rotterdam	$2615
60 km or 37 mi	Veenendaal	$1829
61 km or 38 mi	Ridderkerk	$2329
64 km or 40 mi	Sliedrecht	$2262
64 km or 40 mi	Ede	$1860
65 km or 40 mi	Elburg	$2082
66 km or 41 mi	Tiel	$2706
67 km or 42 mi	Zaltbommel	$2302
70 km or 43 mi	Wageningen	$2318
72 km or 45 mi	Kampen	$2070
75 km or 47 mi	Apeldoorn	$2154
76 km or 47 mi	Texel	$2187
81 km or 50 mi	's-Hertogenbosch	$2263
82 km or 51 mi	Arnhem	$1986
83 km or 51 mi	Zwolle	$1992
83 km or 52 mi	Zwartewaterland	$2058
86 km or 54 mi	Deventer	$2107
89 km or 55 mi	Nijmegen	$2164
89 km or 55 mi	Sneek	$2100
89 km or 55 mi	Breda	$2087
91 km or 57 mi	Tilburg	$2238

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1003
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$673
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$696
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$771
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$597
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$612
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$632
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$547
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$648
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$679
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$631
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$634
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$576
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$713
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$621
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$740
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$674
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$601
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$630
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$826
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$622
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$634
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$639
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$597
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$642
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$597
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$664
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$531
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$602
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$618
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$637
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$672
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$663
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$590
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$666
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$659
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$617
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$753