Beirut vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Beirut	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1255	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3214	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$605	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$1314	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$342	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$186	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$542	$1644
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	8 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	75	100
😀 Quality of life	63	78
🏙️ Population	2.42M	24.9M

The cost of living in Beirut is 14% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 4326th and 4858th ($1255 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Lebanon and China, respectively. Check Lebanon vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Beirut compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Beirut ranked 1st best city to live in Lebanon vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 4772nd and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Beirut vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Beirut vs Shanghai

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

	Beirut	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.1	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$50.3	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.83	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.02	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$2.9	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.58	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$732	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$355	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1783	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$887	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$136	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$209	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.6	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.48%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3136	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1549	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.6	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$79.5	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.1	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.92	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.62	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.82	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.82	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.69	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.92	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.11	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.9	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.28	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.41	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.01	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.16	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.02	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.87	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.08	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.37	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.8	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.8	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.01	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$54.3	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.08	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$80.9	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$117	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$294	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4459	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Beirut

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.2 mi	Jounieh	$1020
37 km or 23 mi	Zahle	$912
38 km or 23 mi	Sidon	$798
68 km or 42 mi	Tripoli	$776
75 km or 46 mi	Tyre	$573
76 km or 47 mi	Kiryat Shmona	$1709
83 km or 52 mi	Damascus	$638
99 km or 62 mi	Ma'alot-Tarshiha	$1647
102 km or 64 mi	Safed	$1681
106 km or 66 mi	Nahariya	$1616
112 km or 69 mi	Karmiel	$1531
114 km or 71 mi	Acre	$1502
115 km or 72 mi	Sakhnin	$1612
116 km or 72 mi	Arraba	$1633
119 km or 74 mi	Tamra	$1655
122 km or 76 mi	Tiberias	$1600
123 km or 77 mi	Kiryat Motzkin	$1666
124 km or 77 mi	Kiryat Yam	$1657
124 km or 77 mi	Kiryat Bialik	$1666
124 km or 77 mi	Shefa-'Amr	$1677
127 km or 79 mi	Kiryat Ata	$1647
130 km or 81 mi	Haifa	$1645
131 km or 82 mi	Nof HaGalil	$1709
132 km or 82 mi	Nesher	$1593
133 km or 83 mi	Nazareth	$1732
137 km or 85 mi	Migdal HaEmek	$1742
142 km or 88 mi	Yokneam Illit	$1778
144 km or 89 mi	Afula	$1652
145 km or 90 mi	Homs	$456
151 km or 94 mi	Irbid	$679
155 km or 97 mi	Zikhron Ya'akov	$1731
156 km or 97 mi	Umm al-Fahm	$1756
165 km or 103 mi	Pardes Hanna-Karkur	$1728
169 km or 105 mi	Baqa-Jatt	$1782
169 km or 105 mi	Hadera	$1576
179 km or 111 mi	Hama	$417
183 km or 114 mi	Jerash	$608
183 km or 114 mi	Netanya	$2138
184 km or 114 mi	Latakia	$386
186 km or 116 mi	Tayibe	$1902

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