Birmingham vs Shenzhen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Birmingham	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1951	$916
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4641	$2694
🏠 One person rent	$1137	$478
🏘️ Family rent	$1834	$1142
🍽️ Food expenses	$481	$261
🚐 Transport expenses	$175	$85.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3011	$1771
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	96	96
😀 Quality of life	94	80
🏙️ Population	1.14M	17.7M

The cost of living in Birmingham is 113% more expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 1973rd and 5950th ($1951 vs $916) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 86th and 12th 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 1.9 months in Shenzhen. Birmingham ranked 4th best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Shenzhen ranked 3rd in China, while ranked 35th and 545th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Birmingham vs Shenzhen infographic

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Prices in Birmingham vs Shenzhen

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

	Birmingham	Shenzhen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.7	$3.06
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.3	$27.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.87	$5.23
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.15	$1.11
☕ Cappuccino	$4.2	$3.03
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.15	$0.46
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1083	$667
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$872	$360
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2013	$1650
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1380	$917
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$187	$43.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$292	$65.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$35.8	$13.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.86%	4.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4882	$12583
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3808	$6551
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.5	$0.41
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$78.1	$23.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18	$4.51
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.82	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.51	$1.89
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.04	$1.18
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.02	$1.89
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.56	$13
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.49	$4.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$13.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$1.9
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$1.73
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$1.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.08
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.79	$0.4
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.12	$1.05
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.2	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.99	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.4	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$5.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.99	$1.63
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.44	$1.91
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$30.6	$48.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14	$6.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$113	$33.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.4	$9.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$82.3	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.2	$78
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1512	$502
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$18058	$22267

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 Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2432
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2737
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$653
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$656
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1588
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$461
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$601
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$804
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$774
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$611
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$936
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$812
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$764
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$794
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$793
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$823
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$877
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$569
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$818
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$443
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$581
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$655
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$451
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$803
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$755
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$758
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$761
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$756
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$761
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$724
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$771
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$764
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$649
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$664
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$702
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$688
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$650
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$823
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$522
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$609