Amsterdam vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Amsterdam	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2791	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6603	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$1828	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$3238	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$586	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$226	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4145	$1644
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	95	100
😀 Quality of life	95	78
🏙️ Population	921K	24.9M

The cost of living in Amsterdam is 154% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 331st and 4858th ($2791 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th 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 1.5 months in Shanghai. Amsterdam ranked 1st best city to live in the Netherlands vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 29th and 675th 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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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/amsterdam/shanghai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Amsterdam vs Shanghai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/amsterdam/shanghai" target="_blank">Amsterdam vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

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	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$93.8	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$13.9	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.3	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$4.22	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.13	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1920	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1536	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3785	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2716	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$172	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$264	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.6	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.17%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9911	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7140	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.59	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$93.9	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$29.2	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.11	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.31	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.08	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.64	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.65	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.3	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.7	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.2	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.93	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.65	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.1	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.64	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.5	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.93	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.67	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.02	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.25	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$59.3	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.7	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.9	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$30.2	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$88.7	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2405	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$18104	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Amsterdam

Distance	City	Cost of living
14 km or 8.8 mi	Purmerend	$1944
18 km or 11 mi	Haarlem	$2291
21 km or 13 mi	IJmuiden	$2085
22 km or 14 mi	Almere	$1937
25 km or 16 mi	Zandvoort	$2090
26 km or 16 mi	Hilversum	$2049
26 km or 16 mi	Huizen	$1957
35 km or 22 mi	Langedijk	$1995
36 km or 22 mi	Utrecht	$2251
38 km or 23 mi	Leiden	$2081
38 km or 24 mi	Oegstgeest	$1934
40 km or 25 mi	Zeist	$2180
42 km or 26 mi	Lelystad	$1357
48 km or 30 mi	Leidschendam	$2042
49 km or 30 mi	Harderwijk	$1844
52 km or 32 mi	The Hague	$2199
53 km or 33 mi	Scheveningen	$2049
55 km or 34 mi	Delft	$1861
57 km or 36 mi	Dronten	$1760
59 km or 36 mi	Rotterdam	$2359
60 km or 37 mi	Veenendaal	$1631
61 km or 38 mi	Ridderkerk	$2062
64 km or 40 mi	Sliedrecht	$1969
64 km or 40 mi	Ede	$1651
65 km or 40 mi	Elburg	$1829
66 km or 41 mi	Tiel	$2432
67 km or 42 mi	Zaltbommel	$2026
70 km or 43 mi	Wageningen	$2105
72 km or 45 mi	Kampen	$1823
75 km or 47 mi	Apeldoorn	$1893
76 km or 47 mi	Texel	$1941
81 km or 50 mi	's-Hertogenbosch	$1975
82 km or 51 mi	Arnhem	$1613
83 km or 51 mi	Zwolle	$1764
83 km or 52 mi	Zwartewaterland	$1813
86 km or 54 mi	Deventer	$1851
89 km or 55 mi	Nijmegen	$1999
89 km or 55 mi	Sneek	$1890
89 km or 55 mi	Breda	$1739
91 km or 57 mi	Tilburg	$1862

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$984
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$665
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$700
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$868
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$573
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$631
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$645
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$602
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$640
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$670
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$670
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$657
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$590
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$708
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$643
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$716
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$695
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$702
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$644
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$805
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$643
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$654
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$603
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$650
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$607
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$644
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$665
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$522
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$620
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$621
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$642
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$677
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$665
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$592
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$672
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$621
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$746