Baltimore vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Baltimore	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2323	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5331	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1411	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$2342	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$620	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$125	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3970	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	97	100
😀 Quality of life	92	77
🏙️ Population	586K	24.9M

The cost of living in Baltimore is 106% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1219th and 4879th ($2323 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1063rd 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 1.7 months in Baltimore compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Baltimore ranked 35th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 128th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Baltimore vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Baltimore vs Shanghai

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

	Baltimore	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$17.4	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.3	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.3	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.15	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$5.38	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.37	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1652	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1117	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2831	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1910	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$114	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$175	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$73	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.56%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2256	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1977	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.01	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$85.2	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.5	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.87	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.01	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.44	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.82	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.66	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.9	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.47	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.2	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.63	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.04	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.83	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.48	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.94	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.81	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.77	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.8	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.01	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.7	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.36	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.71	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.15	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$56.3	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.4	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$122	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.9	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.1	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.4	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1287	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19353	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Baltimore

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Catonsville	$2450
21 km or 13 mi	Owings Mills	$2581
23 km or 14 mi	Columbia	$2788
30 km or 19 mi	Laurel	$2338
31 km or 19 mi	Edgewood	$3069
32 km or 20 mi	Eldersburg	$2494
35 km or 22 mi	Bel Air South	$2824
36 km or 22 mi	Annapolis	$2940
37 km or 23 mi	Bel Air North	$2699
37 km or 23 mi	Bowie	$2495
40 km or 25 mi	Greenbelt	$2482
42 km or 26 mi	College Park	$2563
47 km or 29 mi	Silver Spring	$2287
52 km or 32 mi	Rockville	$2612
54 km or 34 mi	Bethesda	$2710
55 km or 34 mi	Gaithersburg	$2522
57 km or 35 mi	Washington	$3328
57 km or 36 mi	Georgetown	$3054
58 km or 36 mi	Germantown	$2601
65 km or 41 mi	Alexandria	$2919
66 km or 41 mi	Bailey's Crossroads	$2576
66 km or 41 mi	Hanover	$2255
71 km or 44 mi	Frederick	$2339
73 km or 45 mi	Reston	$2697
74 km or 46 mi	Springfield	$2355
75 km or 47 mi	Waldorf	$2509
75 km or 47 mi	Herndon	$2773
76 km or 47 mi	York	$1949
77 km or 48 mi	Fairfax	$2791
80 km or 50 mi	Ashburn	$2755
84 km or 52 mi	Leesburg	$2288
86 km or 54 mi	Newark	$2121
87 km or 54 mi	Centreville	$3275
88 km or 55 mi	Lancaster	$2050
91 km or 56 mi	Woodbridge	$2582
91 km or 57 mi	Marumsco	$2506
95 km or 59 mi	Dover	$2256
95 km or 59 mi	Manassas	$2693
98 km or 61 mi	Waynesboro	$1935
103 km or 64 mi	Hagerstown	$2066

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