Arlington vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Arlington	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1913	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4719	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$1108	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$1925	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$573	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$91.3	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3749	$1068
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	90	99
😀 Quality of life	78	76
🏙️ Population	394K	24.9M

The cost of living in Arlington is 67% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 2324th and 4880th ($1913 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1747th and 5th in the United States and China, respectively. Check the United States vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2 months in Arlington compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. Arlington ranked 262nd best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 895th and 1178th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/arlington/shanghai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Arlington vs Shanghai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/arlington/shanghai" target="_blank">Arlington vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Arlington vs Shanghai

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

	Arlington	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$57.4	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.6	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.74	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$5.12	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.9	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1230	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$868	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2162	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1579	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$112	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$175	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$55.1	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.19%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2191	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2197	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$5.23	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$40	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.1	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.83	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.88	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.98	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.28	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.3	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.49	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.12	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.19	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.09	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.48	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.86	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.09	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.64	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.34	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.09	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.46	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.04	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$39.5	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.6	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$104	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.8	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.2	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$86.5	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1486	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21592	$27610

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Arlington

Distance	City	Cost of living
10 km or 6.2 mi	Grand Prairie	$2117
14 km or 8.9 mi	Mansfield	$2316
15 km or 9.6 mi	Hurst	$2128
16 km or 9.8 mi	Bedford	$2122
16 km or 10 mi	Euless	$2111
19 km or 12 mi	Haltom	$2147
19 km or 12 mi	North Richland Hills	$2142
20 km or 12 mi	Irving	$2086
20 km or 13 mi	Colleyville	$2129
21 km or 13 mi	Fort Worth	$2259
21 km or 13 mi	Duncanville	$2170
21 km or 13 mi	Cedar Hill	$2183
22 km or 14 mi	Watauga	$2137
26 km or 16 mi	Grapevine	$2042
27 km or 17 mi	Burleson	$2164
27 km or 17 mi	Keller	$2128
27 km or 17 mi	Southlake	$2110
27 km or 17 mi	DeSoto	$2182
28 km or 17 mi	Midlothian	$2206
29 km or 18 mi	Saginaw	$2151
30 km or 18 mi	Coppell	$2120
30 km or 19 mi	Dallas	$2472
31 km or 19 mi	Benbrook	$2155
34 km or 21 mi	Farmers Branch	$2156
35 km or 21 mi	Lancaster	$2193
35 km or 22 mi	University Park	$2202
37 km or 23 mi	Flower Mound	$2125
38 km or 24 mi	Carrollton	$2168
39 km or 24 mi	Lewisville	$2062
43 km or 27 mi	Waxahachie	$2174
47 km or 29 mi	Cleburne	$2148
48 km or 30 mi	Balch Springs	$2205
48 km or 30 mi	Richardson	$2172
48 km or 30 mi	The Colony	$2220
49 km or 30 mi	Mesquite	$2096
49 km or 30 mi	Corinth	$2205
51 km or 32 mi	Garland	$2104
52 km or 32 mi	Plano	$2155
54 km or 33 mi	Little Elm	$2209
56 km or 35 mi	Frisco	$2397

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1030
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$708
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$726
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$725
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$798
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$643
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$678
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$581
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$652
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$680
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$658
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$571
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$660
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$645
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$670
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$663
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$636
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$659
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$899
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$651
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$664
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$657
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$627
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$667
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$623
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$693
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$691
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$623
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$644
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$661
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$696
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$693
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$620
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$677
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$684
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$644
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$789