Brisbane vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Brisbane	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2065	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4896	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1253	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$2149	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$525	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$152	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3956	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	66	100
😀 Quality of life	98	77
🏙️ Population	2.71M	24.9M

The cost of living in Brisbane is 83% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1813th and 4879th ($2065 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 11th and 5th in Australia and China, respectively. Check Australia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Brisbane compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Brisbane ranked 3rd best city to live in Australia vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 9th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brisbane vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Brisbane vs Shanghai

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

	Brisbane	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$14.4	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$62.7	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$3.66	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.65	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1514	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1022	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2603	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1816	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$82.2	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$125	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.5	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.15%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8291	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6020	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.33	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$32.8	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.6	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.41	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.11	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.8	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.8	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.86	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.93	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.42	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.48	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.41	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.85	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.48	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.9	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.28	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$24.1	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.9	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.91	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.28	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.35	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.9	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.8	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$56.3	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$19.2	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$76.5	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$102	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1795	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11423	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brisbane

Distance	City	Cost of living
31 km or 19 mi	Ipswich	$1662
45 km or 28 mi	Caboolture	$1798
66 km or 41 mi	Southport	$2140
71 km or 44 mi	Gold Coast	$2297
75 km or 47 mi	Caloundra	$1710
91 km or 57 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1697
107 km or 66 mi	Toowoomba	$1639
143 km or 89 mi	Byron Bay	$2471
243 km or 151 mi	Hervey Bay	$1712
299 km or 186 mi	Bundaberg	$1595
315 km or 196 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1988
362 km or 225 mi	Armidale	$1184
441 km or 274 mi	Gladstone	$1503
441 km or 274 mi	Port Macquarie	$1633
520 km or 323 mi	Rockhampton	$1482
618 km or 384 mi	Newcastle	$1839
682 km or 424 mi	Dubbo	$1747
719 km or 447 mi	Dee Why	$2181
722 km or 449 mi	Kellyville	$1888
730 km or 453 mi	Blacktown	$1599
732 km or 455 mi	Parramatta	$2292
733 km or 455 mi	Sydney	$2640
740 km or 460 mi	Bathurst	$1568
748 km or 465 mi	Orange	$1364
801 km or 498 mi	Wollongong	$1580
869 km or 540 mi	Goulburn	$1678
945 km or 587 mi	Canberra	$2019
1006 km or 625 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1458
1009 km or 627 mi	Griffith	$1667
1111 km or 690 mi	Townsville	$1683
1224 km or 761 mi	Shepparton	$1662
1278 km or 794 mi	Mildura	$1771
1320 km or 820 mi	Bendigo	$1362
1337 km or 831 mi	Traralgon	$1813
1367 km or 849 mi	Sunbury	$1768
1372 km or 853 mi	Pakenham	$1725
1375 km or 855 mi	Melbourne	$2308
1376 km or 855 mi	Berwick	$1706
1376 km or 855 mi	South Yarra	$1681
1377 km or 856 mi	Dandenong	$1736

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