Beijing vs Melbourne - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Beijing	Melbourne
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1044	$2496
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2705	$6197
🏠 One person rent	$596	$1388
🏘️ Family rent	$1053	$2468
🍽️ Food expenses	$250	$606
🚐 Transport expenses	$102	$346
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$711	$4328
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	100	100
😀 Quality of life	73	100
🏙️ Population	21.9M	5.35M

The cost of living in Beijing is 58% less expensive than in Melbourne. Cities ranked 5341st and 893rd ($1044 vs $2496) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 6th and 4th in China and Australia, respectively. Check China vs Australia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Beijing compared to 1.7 months in Melbourne. Beijing ranked 11th best city to live in China vs Melbourne ranked 1st in Australia, while ranked 2718th and 1st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/beijing/melbourne.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Beijing vs Melbourne infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/beijing/melbourne" target="_blank">Beijing vs Melbourne - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Beijing vs Melbourne

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

	Beijing	Melbourne
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.36	$15.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$26.1	$71.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.05	$11.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$9.06
☕ Cappuccino	$3.03	$4.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.57	$2.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$861	$1549
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$471	$1138
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1589	$2861
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$839	$2079
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$32.4	$115
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$50.2	$180
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$13.9	$52.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.39%	5.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12544	$7481
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6280	$6465
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.58	$3.9
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$33.4	$132
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.68	$19.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.1	$1.33
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.95	$1.73
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.81	$2.72
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.12	$2.25
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.89	$5.92
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$13.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.38	$9.85
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$15.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$3.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$3.25
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$3.42
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$4.78
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.82	$3.06
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.91	$2.73
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.37	$1.17
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.21	$2.74
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.65	$14.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.86	$5.42
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.61	$25.8
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.71	$8.05
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.63	$6.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.73	$3.3
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.02	$2.88
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.8	$48.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8	$15.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$34.7	$53.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.08	$26.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$59	$80
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.3	$127
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$725	$2232
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$25165	$26129

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Beijing

Distance	City	Cost of living
50 km or 31 mi	Langfang	$716
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuozhou	$734
58 km or 36 mi	Sanhe	$767
78 km or 49 mi	Gaobeidian	$645
87 km or 54 mi	Bazhou	$646
109 km or 68 mi	Tianjin	$663
135 km or 84 mi	Renqiu	$572
137 km or 85 mi	Zunhua	$673
139 km or 87 mi	Baoding	$468
151 km or 94 mi	Binhai	$656
155 km or 97 mi	Tangshan	$697
163 km or 101 mi	Zhangjiakou	$657
164 km or 102 mi	Hejian	$562
176 km or 110 mi	Chengde	$709
182 km or 113 mi	Cangzhou	$621
189 km or 117 mi	Huanghua	$630
189 km or 118 mi	Anguo	$528
196 km or 122 mi	Dingzhou	$558
197 km or 122 mi	Qian'an	$632
198 km or 123 mi	Luanzhou	$626
204 km or 127 mi	Botou	$564
224 km or 139 mi	Shenzhou	$512
228 km or 142 mi	Xinle	$524
229 km or 142 mi	Pingquan	$629
239 km or 148 mi	Jinzhou	$521
241 km or 150 mi	Xinji	$525
249 km or 155 mi	Gaocheng	$519
249 km or 155 mi	Hengshui	$466
252 km or 156 mi	Laoling	$584
263 km or 164 mi	Shijiazhuang	$493
265 km or 165 mi	Datong	$770
272 km or 169 mi	Jizhou	$508
273 km or 169 mi	Qinhuangdao	$574
273 km or 170 mi	Dezhou	$492
281 km or 175 mi	Fengzhen	$655
282 km or 175 mi	Huairen	$666
294 km or 183 mi	Lingyuan	$618
296 km or 184 mi	Nangong	$562
302 km or 187 mi	Ulanqab	$640
314 km or 195 mi	Binzhou	$748

Cities near Melbourne

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	South Yarra	$1829
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1854
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1822
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1894
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1928
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1906
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1889
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1860
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1798
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1896
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$2217
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1604
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1487
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$1979
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1815
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1870
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1901
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1898
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1824
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1753
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2223
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1904
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1821
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2308
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1477
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1699
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1695
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$2338
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1710
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1867
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2482
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$2050
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2844
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2379
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1997
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$2128
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1288
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172