Beijing vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Beijing	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1108	$2844
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2811	$6812
🏠 One person rent	$648	$1756
🏘️ Family rent	$1139	$3107
🍽️ Food expenses	$259	$592
🚐 Transport expenses	$101	$335
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$769	$4188
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	100	99
😀 Quality of life	73	100
🏙️ Population	21.9M	5.45M

The cost of living in Beijing is 61% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 4987th and 370th ($1108 vs $2844) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 6th and 1st 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 1.5 months in Sydney. Beijing ranked 14th best city to live in China vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 2361st and 2nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

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

Prices in Beijing vs Sydney

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

	Beijing	Sydney
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.47	$15.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$29.5	$81.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.19	$11.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.17	$7.3
☕ Cappuccino	$3.27	$3.97
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.58	$2.71
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$965	$2215
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$510	$1420
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1738	$3992
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$909	$2582
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$32.7	$126
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$50	$193
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$14.5	$50.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.19%	5.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12536	$12962
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6136	$7403
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.67	$3.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$31.5	$117
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.6	$20.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.21	$1.39
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.96	$1.74
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.76	$2.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$2.09
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.15	$5.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.3	$13.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$9.72
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.1	$15.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$3.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$3.08
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$3.19
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$4.73
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.81	$2.9
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.86	$2.27
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.72
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.25	$2.95
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.2	$16.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.94	$4.08
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.67	$28.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.65	$8.18
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.95	$4.65
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.51	$3.58
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.03	$3.34
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$54.3	$66
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.12	$17.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$36.2	$70
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.74	$21.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$62.6	$77.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$89.2	$111
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$621	$2275
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$25910	$25164

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	$740
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuozhou	$764
58 km or 36 mi	Sanhe	$800
78 km or 49 mi	Gaobeidian	$666
87 km or 54 mi	Bazhou	$666
109 km or 68 mi	Tianjin	$682
135 km or 84 mi	Renqiu	$586
137 km or 85 mi	Zunhua	$697
139 km or 87 mi	Baoding	$480
151 km or 94 mi	Binhai	$672
155 km or 97 mi	Tangshan	$720
163 km or 101 mi	Zhangjiakou	$680
164 km or 102 mi	Hejian	$576
176 km or 110 mi	Chengde	$722
182 km or 113 mi	Cangzhou	$623
189 km or 117 mi	Huanghua	$645
189 km or 118 mi	Anguo	$541
196 km or 122 mi	Dingzhou	$556
197 km or 122 mi	Qian'an	$648
198 km or 123 mi	Luanzhou	$645
204 km or 127 mi	Botou	$574
224 km or 139 mi	Shenzhou	$525
228 km or 142 mi	Xinle	$541
229 km or 142 mi	Pingquan	$646
239 km or 148 mi	Jinzhou	$541
241 km or 150 mi	Xinji	$539
249 km or 155 mi	Gaocheng	$541
249 km or 155 mi	Hengshui	$480
252 km or 156 mi	Laoling	$599
263 km or 164 mi	Shijiazhuang	$521
265 km or 165 mi	Datong	$789
272 km or 169 mi	Jizhou	$522
273 km or 169 mi	Qinhuangdao	$589
273 km or 170 mi	Dezhou	$511
281 km or 175 mi	Fengzhen	$676
282 km or 175 mi	Huairen	$684
294 km or 183 mi	Lingyuan	$634
296 km or 184 mi	Nangong	$579
302 km or 187 mi	Ulanqab	$665
314 km or 195 mi	Binzhou	$759

Cities near Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2354
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2481
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$2040
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1709
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1695
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1995
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1701
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1795
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1460
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2258
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1855
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1786
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1273
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1608
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2132
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1825
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1816
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$2672
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$2000
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2530
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2341
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1936
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1915
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1493
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1720
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1913
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1825
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1810
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1834
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2543
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1933
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1889
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1896
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2323
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1813
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1847
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1992
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$2179
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1606
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1863