Birmingham vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Birmingham	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1951	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4641	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$1137	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$1834	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$481	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$175	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3011	$1644
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	96	100
😀 Quality of life	94	78
🏙️ Population	1.14M	24.9M

The cost of living in Birmingham is 78% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1973rd and 4858th ($1951 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 86th and 6th in the United Kingdom and China, respectively. Check the United Kingdom vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Birmingham compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Birmingham ranked 4th best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 35th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Birmingham vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Birmingham vs Shanghai

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

	Birmingham	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.7	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.3	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.87	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.15	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$4.2	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.15	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1083	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$872	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2013	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1380	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$187	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$292	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$35.8	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.86%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4882	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3808	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.5	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$78.1	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.82	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.51	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.04	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.02	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.56	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.49	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.79	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.12	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.2	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.99	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.4	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.99	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.44	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$30.6	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$113	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.4	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$82.3	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.2	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1512	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$18058	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Birmingham

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.7 km or 2.9 mi	Smethwick	$1819
6.8 km or 4.2 mi	West Bromwich	$1824
11 km or 6.6 mi	Halesowen	$1766
12 km or 7.2 mi	Solihull	$1740
12 km or 7.6 mi	Walsall	$1717
14 km or 8.7 mi	Dudley	$1745
14 km or 8.7 mi	Aldridge	$1743
15 km or 9.6 mi	Willenhall	$1732
17 km or 10 mi	Stourbridge	$1731
19 km or 12 mi	Wolverhampton	$1718
19 km or 12 mi	Bromsgrove	$1728
20 km or 12 mi	Redditch	$1608
22 km or 14 mi	Tamworth	$1737
25 km or 15 mi	Cannock	$1736
26 km or 16 mi	Kidderminster	$1744
27 km or 17 mi	Coventry	$1903
30 km or 19 mi	Nuneaton	$1452
31 km or 19 mi	Warwick	$1679
32 km or 20 mi	Leamington Spa	$2009
35 km or 22 mi	Stratford-upon-Avon	$1798
37 km or 23 mi	Hinckley	$1663
39 km or 24 mi	Worcester	$1569
39 km or 24 mi	Stafford	$1750
40 km or 25 mi	Burton upon Trent	$1633
43 km or 27 mi	Telford	$1450
45 km or 28 mi	Rugby	$1600
55 km or 34 mi	Leicester	$1805
57 km or 35 mi	Derby	$1727
57 km or 35 mi	Loughborough	$1759
60 km or 37 mi	Banbury	$1693
61 km or 38 mi	Stoke-on-Trent	$1552
63 km or 39 mi	Shrewsbury	$1591
63 km or 39 mi	Newcastle-under-Lyme	$1465
66 km or 41 mi	Cheltenham	$1739
66 km or 41 mi	Market Harborough	$1790
70 km or 44 mi	Leek	$1686
72 km or 45 mi	Gloucester	$1623
73 km or 45 mi	Hereford	$1814
73 km or 46 mi	Nottingham	$1820
73 km or 46 mi	Northampton	$1748

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