Barcelona vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Barcelona	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1841	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4103	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$1100	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$1762	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$452	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$152	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2025	$1644
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	98	100
😀 Quality of life	87	78
🏙️ Population	1.7M	24.9M

The cost of living in Barcelona is 68% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 2276th and 4858th ($1841 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 6th in Spain and China, respectively. Check Spain vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.1 months in Barcelona compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Barcelona ranked 2nd best city to live in Spain vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 270th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Barcelona vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Barcelona vs Shanghai

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

	Barcelona	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$56.6	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.3	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.49	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$2.87	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.44	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1176	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$912	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2073	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1446	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$101	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$157	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$33.9	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.43%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5914	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4127	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.65	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$26.2	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.7	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.71	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.12	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.67	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.7	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.93	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.5	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.28	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.99	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.72	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.29	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.88	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.31	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.26	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.71	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.86	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.16	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.38	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$54.6	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.64	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$58.5	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$24	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$80	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.1	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$635	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13290	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Barcelona

Distance	City	Cost of living
7 km or 4.4 mi	L'Hospitalet de Llobregat	$1567
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Badalona	$1747
9.3 km or 5.8 mi	Cornella de Llobregat	$1434
12 km or 7.5 mi	Sant Boi de Llobregat	$1389
13 km or 8 mi	Ripollet	$1454
17 km or 11 mi	Rubi	$1393
19 km or 12 mi	Sabadell	$1431
24 km or 15 mi	Terrassa	$1361
27 km or 17 mi	Granollers	$1415
28 km or 18 mi	Mataro	$1428
42 km or 26 mi	Vilanova i la Geltru	$1269
48 km or 30 mi	Manresa	$1089
61 km or 38 mi	Vic	$1076
65 km or 40 mi	Lloret de Mar	$1237
83 km or 52 mi	Tarragona	$1217
85 km or 53 mi	Girona	$1539
117 km or 73 mi	Figueres	$1338
131 km or 81 mi	Lleida	$1235
136 km or 85 mi	Andorra la Vella	$1601
141 km or 88 mi	Ordino	$1592
158 km or 98 mi	Perpignan	$1197
176 km or 109 mi	Vinaros	$1275
206 km or 128 mi	Palma de Mallorca	$1696
208 km or 129 mi	Ciutadella de Menorca	$1435
212 km or 131 mi	Narbonne	$1093
230 km or 143 mi	Huesca	$1071
234 km or 145 mi	Beziers	$1233
242 km or 150 mi	Mahon	$1470
245 km or 152 mi	Castellon de la Plana	$1100
247 km or 154 mi	Castres	$1391
250 km or 156 mi	Villarreal	$1131
253 km or 157 mi	Borriana	$1150
254 km or 158 mi	Toulouse	$1499
257 km or 159 mi	Zaragoza	$1101
269 km or 167 mi	Tarbes	$1369
281 km or 174 mi	Sagunto	$1220
282 km or 175 mi	Ibiza	$2528
284 km or 177 mi	Montpellier	$1472
299 km or 186 mi	Pau	$1296
303 km or 189 mi	Valencia	$1522

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