Barcelona vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Barcelona	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2116	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4761	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$1285	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$2102	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$515	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$161	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2516	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	98	99
😀 Quality of life	90	75
🏙️ Population	1.73M	24.9M

The cost of living in Barcelona is 88% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1722nd and 4971st ($2116 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 5th in Spain and China, respectively. Check Spain vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Barcelona compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Barcelona ranked 2nd best city to live in Spain vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 205th and 1655th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$17.8	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$64.9	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14.1	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.02	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$3.26	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.73	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1395	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1073	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2392	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1768	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$111	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$173	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$36.2	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.08%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7050	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4924	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.17	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$27.4	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.3	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.8	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.29	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.7	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.72	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.24	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.4	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.59	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.2	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.35	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.85	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.99	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.49	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.46	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.43	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.25	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.65	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.57	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.07	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.88	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$56.7	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.8	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$73	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$20	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$92.6	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$119	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$777	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16675	$27781

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	$1812
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Badalona	$2155
9.3 km or 5.8 mi	Cornella de Llobregat	$1656
12 km or 7.5 mi	Sant Boi de Llobregat	$1603
13 km or 8 mi	Ripollet	$1708
17 km or 11 mi	Rubi	$1580
19 km or 12 mi	Sabadell	$1685
24 km or 15 mi	Terrassa	$1473
27 km or 17 mi	Granollers	$1623
28 km or 18 mi	Mataro	$1609
42 km or 26 mi	Vilanova i la Geltru	$1478
48 km or 30 mi	Manresa	$1210
61 km or 38 mi	Vic	$1161
65 km or 40 mi	Lloret de Mar	$1367
83 km or 52 mi	Tarragona	$1531
85 km or 53 mi	Girona	$1741
117 km or 73 mi	Figueres	$1550
131 km or 81 mi	Lleida	$1264
136 km or 85 mi	Andorra la Vella	$1878
141 km or 88 mi	Ordino	$1877
158 km or 98 mi	Perpignan	$1390
176 km or 109 mi	Vinaros	$1493
206 km or 128 mi	Palma de Mallorca	$2000
208 km or 129 mi	Ciutadella de Menorca	$1645
212 km or 131 mi	Narbonne	$1230
230 km or 143 mi	Huesca	$1201
234 km or 145 mi	Beziers	$1509
242 km or 150 mi	Mahon	$1659
245 km or 152 mi	Castellon de la Plana	$1215
247 km or 154 mi	Castres	$1585
250 km or 156 mi	Villarreal	$1267
253 km or 157 mi	Borriana	$1296
254 km or 158 mi	Toulouse	$1709
257 km or 159 mi	Zaragoza	$1471
269 km or 167 mi	Tarbes	$1569
281 km or 174 mi	Sagunto	$1415
282 km or 175 mi	Ibiza	$2879
284 km or 177 mi	Montpellier	$1663
299 km or 186 mi	Pau	$1347
303 km or 189 mi	Valencia	$1797

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1002
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$669
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$782
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$594
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$620
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$644
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$557
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$667
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$683
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$643
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$650
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$584
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$671
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$636
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$680
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$684
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$623
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$646
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$860
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$647
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$652
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$611
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$652
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$604
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$675
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$678
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$525
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$618
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$626
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$644
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$667
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$677
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$601
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$665
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$632
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$765