Barcelona vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Barcelona	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1773	$1190
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4086	$3757
🏠 One person rent	$1039	$635
🏘️ Family rent	$1779	$1613
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$308
🚐 Transport expenses	$164	$117
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2149	$1455
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	98	100
😀 Quality of life	88	78
🏙️ Population	1.64M	24.9M

The cost of living in Barcelona is 49% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 2423rd and 4461st ($1773 vs $1190) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 6th in Spain and China, respectively. Check Spain vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Barcelona compared to 1.2 months in Shanghai. Barcelona ranked 2nd best city to live in Spain vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 193rd and 558th 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	$15.3	$4.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$53.5	$40.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.6	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.16	$1.7
☕ Cappuccino	$2.96	$3.83
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.39	$0.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1095	$901
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$847	$497
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1939	$2595
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1488	$1269
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$39.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$168	$60.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.6	$17.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.5%	4.77%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6090	$17366
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3928	$9346
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.52	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$35.2	$37.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.5	$6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.82	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.15	$2.55
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.4	$2.02
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$1.47
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.2	$2.21
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$18.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.72	$4.12
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$12.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$2.27
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.97
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.48	$1.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.67	$0.96
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.56	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.23	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.59	$14.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.21	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.65	$3.45
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.27	$6.43
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.92	$7.06
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.29	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.59	$2
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$50.5	$69.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.75	$8.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$58.3	$89.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.4	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$85.6	$66.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.4	$78.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$571	$1283
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12100	$28143

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	$1571
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Badalona	$1995
9.3 km or 5.8 mi	Cornella de Llobregat	$1426
12 km or 7.5 mi	Sant Boi de Llobregat	$1400
13 km or 8 mi	Ripollet	$1562
17 km or 11 mi	Rubi	$1421
19 km or 12 mi	Sabadell	$1443
24 km or 15 mi	Terrassa	$1409
27 km or 17 mi	Granollers	$1475
28 km or 18 mi	Mataro	$1478
42 km or 26 mi	Vilanova i la Geltru	$1265
48 km or 30 mi	Manresa	$1076
61 km or 38 mi	Vic	$1418
65 km or 40 mi	Lloret de Mar	$1216
83 km or 52 mi	Tarragona	$1148
85 km or 53 mi	Girona	$1333
117 km or 73 mi	Figueres	$1362
131 km or 81 mi	Lleida	$1023
136 km or 85 mi	Andorra la Vella	$1601
141 km or 88 mi	Ordino	$1593
158 km or 98 mi	Perpignan	$1260
176 km or 109 mi	Vinaros	$1234
206 km or 128 mi	Palma de Mallorca	$1710
208 km or 129 mi	Ciutadella de Menorca	$1419
212 km or 131 mi	Narbonne	$1062
230 km or 143 mi	Huesca	$1112
234 km or 145 mi	Beziers	$1181
242 km or 150 mi	Mahon	$1416
245 km or 152 mi	Castellon de la Plana	$1087
247 km or 154 mi	Castres	$1429
250 km or 156 mi	Villarreal	$1128
253 km or 157 mi	Borriana	$1147
254 km or 158 mi	Toulouse	$1448
257 km or 159 mi	Zaragoza	$1327
269 km or 167 mi	Tarbes	$1364
281 km or 174 mi	Sagunto	$1262
282 km or 175 mi	Ibiza	$2629
284 km or 177 mi	Montpellier	$1458
299 km or 186 mi	Pau	$1353
303 km or 189 mi	Valencia	$1437

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1074
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$731
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$771
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$763
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$682
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$731
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$651
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$678
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$687
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$699
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$688
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$690
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$677
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$675
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$755
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$707
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$713
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$682
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$831
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$679
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$694
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$625
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$707
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$625
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$703
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$524
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$631
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$645
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$720
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$725
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$696
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$719
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$789
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$652
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$740