Blantyre vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Blantyre	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$507	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1439	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$147	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$369	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$210	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$98.9	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$499	$1644
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	22	100
😀 Quality of life	25	78
🏙️ Population	800K	24.9M

The cost of living in Blantyre is 54% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 8593rd and 4858th ($507 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 6th in Malawi and China, respectively. Check Malawi vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1 months in Blantyre compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Blantyre ranked 1st best city to live in Malawi vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 8566th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Blantyre vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Blantyre vs Shanghai

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

	Blantyre	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.98	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$12.7	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.71	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.01	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$2.01	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.82	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$175	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$81.7	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$454	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$274	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$21.8	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$33.5	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.2	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.26%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10525	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$398	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.85	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$15.1	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.2	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.21	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.93	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.37	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.91	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.51	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.13	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.32	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.44	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.86	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.73	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.55	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.94	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.87	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.48	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.3	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.73	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.7	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.8	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$1.45	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17.1	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.97	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$34	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$59.1	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$359	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$591	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Blantyre

Distance	City	Cost of living
57 km or 35 mi	Zomba	$457
60 km or 37 mi	Mulanje	$461
112 km or 70 mi	Ntcheu	$492
149 km or 92 mi	Mangochi	$493
157 km or 98 mi	Tete	$825
191 km or 119 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
240 km or 149 mi	Lilongwe	$587
307 km or 191 mi	Quelimane	$675
405 km or 252 mi	Chimoio	$947
432 km or 269 mi	Mutare	$752
450 km or 280 mi	Beira	$1003
454 km or 282 mi	Marondera	$794
458 km or 285 mi	Mzimba	$566
463 km or 287 mi	Nampula	$872
478 km or 297 mi	Harare	$992
487 km or 303 mi	Chitungwiza	$873
493 km or 307 mi	Mzuzu	$525
541 km or 336 mi	Chinhoyi	$646
611 km or 380 mi	Kadoma	$723
626 km or 389 mi	Nacala	$1150
637 km or 396 mi	Kwekwe	$730
650 km or 404 mi	Masvingo	$854
674 km or 419 mi	Pemba	$1506
685 km or 425 mi	Gweru	$597
708 km or 440 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$687
721 km or 448 mi	Lusaka	$738
746 km or 463 mi	Kasama	$748
754 km or 469 mi	Ndola	$541
784 km or 487 mi	Mbeya	$461
803 km or 499 mi	Kitwe	$917
811 km or 504 mi	Mufulira	$1018
837 km or 520 mi	Mansa	$776
837 km or 520 mi	Bulawayo	$766
849 km or 528 mi	Chingola	$875
865 km or 537 mi	Choma	$700
935 km or 581 mi	Lubumbashi	$1050
991 km or 616 mi	Francistown	$624
999 km or 621 mi	Livingstone	$688
1000 km or 621 mi	Moroni	$1105
1038 km or 645 mi	Morogoro	$486

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