Auckland vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Auckland	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1961	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4489	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1107	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$1860	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$509	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$221	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3143	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	32	100
😀 Quality of life	91	77
🏙️ Population	1.47M	24.9M

The cost of living in Auckland is 74% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 2124th and 4879th ($1961 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 5th in New Zealand and China, respectively. Check New Zealand vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Auckland compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Auckland ranked 1st best city to live in New Zealand vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 170th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Auckland vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Auckland vs Shanghai

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

	Auckland	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12.6	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.5	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.08	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.89	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$3.4	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.21	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1141	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$931	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2059	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1583	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$87	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$135	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$47.4	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.26%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7253	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5974	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.77	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$122	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.9	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.55	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.64	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.8	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.56	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.74	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.86	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.04	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.02	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.48	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.56	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.3	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.79	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$24.2	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.6	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.93	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.47	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.32	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.3	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.2	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$39.3	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.5	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$72.4	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$864	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13612	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Auckland

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.4 mi	Waitakere	$1716
17 km or 11 mi	Manukau	$1678
28 km or 18 mi	Hibiscus Coast	$1675
40 km or 25 mi	Pukekohe	$1499
113 km or 70 mi	Hamilton	$1383
132 km or 82 mi	Whangarei	$1250
154 km or 96 mi	Tauranga	$1678
193 km or 120 mi	Rotorua	$1312
234 km or 146 mi	Taupo	$1423
253 km or 157 mi	New Plymouth	$1237
344 km or 214 mi	Whanganui	$1425
347 km or 216 mi	Napier	$1493
348 km or 217 mi	Gisborne	$1612
359 km or 223 mi	Hastings	$1480
396 km or 246 mi	Palmerston North	$1379
453 km or 281 mi	Paraparaumu	$1612
464 km or 288 mi	Masterton	$1252
476 km or 296 mi	Porirua	$1743
477 km or 296 mi	Upper Hutt	$1709
486 km or 302 mi	Lower Hutt	$1838
494 km or 307 mi	Wellington	$1869
512 km or 318 mi	Nelson	$1396
524 km or 326 mi	Blenheim	$1254
765 km or 475 mi	Christchurch	$1638
891 km or 553 mi	Timaru	$1847
995 km or 618 mi	Wanaka	$1536
1044 km or 649 mi	Queenstown	$2086
1064 km or 661 mi	Dunedin	$1461
1190 km or 740 mi	Invercargill	$1238
1809 km or 1124 mi	Noumea	$1878
1821 km or 1131 mi	Dumbea	$1811
1826 km or 1135 mi	Paita	$1807
1997 km or 1241 mi	Mua	$1022
1997 km or 1241 mi	Nukualofa	$1024
2097 km or 1303 mi	Port Macquarie	$1633
2112 km or 1312 mi	Suva	$836
2120 km or 1317 mi	Nasinu	$818
2129 km or 1323 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1988
2134 km or 1326 mi	Nadi	$997
2140 km or 1330 mi	Newcastle	$1839

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