Birmingham vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Birmingham	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2137	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5026	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1237	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$1974	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$535	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$198	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3365	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	95	100
😀 Quality of life	95	77
🏙️ Population	1.14M	24.9M

The cost of living in Birmingham is 89% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1622nd and 4879th ($2137 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 65th and 5th 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 1.6 months in Birmingham compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Birmingham ranked 2nd best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 48th and 1383rd 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	$17.5	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$65.2	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.92	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.83	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$4.58	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.31	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1226	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$939	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2079	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1511	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$200	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$310	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.8	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.57%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5209	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3967	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.44	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$88.6	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.9	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.93	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.77	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.64	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.43	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.74	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.52	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.15	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.05	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.27	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.3	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.51	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$19.5	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.77	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.72	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.97	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$35.8	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.8	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$110	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.1	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$92.1	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1583	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$18334	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Birmingham

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.7 km or 2.9 mi	Smethwick	$1933
6.8 km or 4.2 mi	West Bromwich	$1892
11 km or 6.6 mi	Halesowen	$1866
12 km or 7.2 mi	Solihull	$1940
12 km or 7.6 mi	Walsall	$1787
14 km or 8.7 mi	Dudley	$1745
14 km or 8.7 mi	Aldridge	$1830
15 km or 9.6 mi	Willenhall	$1812
17 km or 10 mi	Stourbridge	$1818
19 km or 12 mi	Wolverhampton	$1775
19 km or 12 mi	Bromsgrove	$1847
20 km or 12 mi	Redditch	$1716
22 km or 14 mi	Tamworth	$1840
25 km or 15 mi	Cannock	$1835
26 km or 16 mi	Kidderminster	$1853
27 km or 17 mi	Coventry	$2051
30 km or 19 mi	Nuneaton	$1608
31 km or 19 mi	Warwick	$1951
32 km or 20 mi	Leamington Spa	$2134
35 km or 22 mi	Stratford-upon-Avon	$1890
37 km or 23 mi	Hinckley	$1790
39 km or 24 mi	Worcester	$1696
39 km or 24 mi	Stafford	$1851
40 km or 25 mi	Burton upon Trent	$1768
43 km or 27 mi	Telford	$1612
45 km or 28 mi	Rugby	$1709
55 km or 34 mi	Leicester	$1899
57 km or 35 mi	Derby	$1658
57 km or 35 mi	Loughborough	$1849
60 km or 37 mi	Banbury	$1795
61 km or 38 mi	Stoke-on-Trent	$1633
63 km or 39 mi	Shrewsbury	$1728
63 km or 39 mi	Newcastle-under-Lyme	$1484
66 km or 41 mi	Cheltenham	$1827
66 km or 41 mi	Market Harborough	$1902
70 km or 44 mi	Leek	$1783
72 km or 45 mi	Gloucester	$1900
73 km or 45 mi	Hereford	$1885
73 km or 46 mi	Nottingham	$1831
73 km or 46 mi	Northampton	$1901

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1003
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$673
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$696
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$771
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$597
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$612
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$632
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$547
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$648
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$679
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$631
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$634
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$576
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$713
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$621
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$740
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$674
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$601
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$630
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$826
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$622
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$634
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$639
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$597
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$642
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$597
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$664
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$531
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$602
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$618
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$637
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$672
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$663
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$590
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$666
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$659
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$617
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$753