Brussels vs Dongguan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Brussels	Dongguan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2065	$666
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4988	$1896
🏠 One person rent	$1165	$259
🏘️ Family rent	$2046	$448
🍽️ Food expenses	$658	$239
🚐 Transport expenses	$92.4	$82.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3697	$777
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	46 km
🎓 Higher education	96	67
😀 Quality of life	92	71
🏙️ Population	196K	10.5M

The cost of living in Brussels is 210% more expensive than in Dongguan. Cities ranked 1872nd and 7469th ($2065 vs $666) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 89th in Belgium and China, respectively. Check Belgium vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Brussels compared to 1.2 months in Dongguan. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Dongguan ranked 25th in China, while ranked 99th and 3662nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Brussels vs Dongguan

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

	Brussels	Dongguan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$24.7	$2.36
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$80.5	$21.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14.7	$4.47
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.48	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$4.55	$2.75
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.46	$0.46
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1092	$317
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$909	$178
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1988	$559
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1675	$326
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$160	$41.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$250	$63
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$58.9	$12.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.39%	3.68%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5177	$6553
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3603	$3642
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.95	$0.32
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$64.8	$21.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.7	$4.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.98	$1.14
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.56	$1.64
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.76	$1.59
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$1.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.89	$1.86
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.9	$14.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.9	$3.68
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$21	$13.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3	$1.81
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.61	$1.43
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$1.61
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.82	$1.27
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.54	$1.02
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.76	$0.36
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.64	$1.12
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.72	$13.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.5	$0.94
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.6	$2.91
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$5.02
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.15	$6.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.52	$1.26
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.37	$1.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.9	$61
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.7	$7.27
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.2	$49.5
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.9	$7.22
👖 Brand Jeans	$104	$30.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$57.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1225	$437
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19894	$22205

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brussels

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	Schaerbeek	$1920
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1932
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1939
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1993
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1853
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1906
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1900
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1917
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1866
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1894
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1860
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$2050
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1886
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1854
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1910
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1838
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1877
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1851
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1834
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1785
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1864
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1809
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1890
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1920
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1706
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1702
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1796
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1772
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1692
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1815
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1734
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1830
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1763
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1766
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1734
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1727
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1887
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1849
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1742
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1857

Cities near Dongguan

Distance	City	Cost of living
51 km or 32 mi	Guangzhou	$782
65 km or 40 mi	Shenzhen	$939
66 km or 41 mi	Foshan	$611
68 km or 43 mi	Huizhou	$621
70 km or 44 mi	Zhongshan	$534
86 km or 53 mi	Jiangmen	$848
88 km or 54 mi	Zhuhai	$674
93 km or 58 mi	Kowloon	$2415
95 km or 59 mi	Hong Kong	$2674
100 km or 62 mi	Macau	$1718
100 km or 62 mi	Qingyuan	$795
124 km or 77 mi	Heyuan	$765
132 km or 82 mi	Kaiping	$844
133 km or 83 mi	Zhaoqing	$807
165 km or 103 mi	Shanwei	$943
176 km or 109 mi	Yunfu	$832
196 km or 122 mi	Shaoguan	$807
226 km or 141 mi	Yangjiang	$896
239 km or 148 mi	Lianzhou	$760
249 km or 155 mi	Puning	$589
253 km or 157 mi	Wuzhou	$816
271 km or 168 mi	Hezhou	$769
273 km or 170 mi	Jieyang	$464
279 km or 173 mi	Meizhou	$673
302 km or 188 mi	Chaozhou	$465
303 km or 188 mi	Shantou	$602
315 km or 195 mi	Chenzhou	$730
323 km or 201 mi	Gaozhou	$790
329 km or 205 mi	Maoming	$789
332 km or 206 mi	Ganzhou	$814
372 km or 231 mi	Yulin	$738
401 km or 249 mi	Zhanjiang	$805
403 km or 250 mi	Longyan	$698
424 km or 263 mi	Guigang	$699
430 km or 267 mi	Guilin	$533
430 km or 267 mi	Zhangzhou	$696
437 km or 271 mi	Yongzhou	$638
444 km or 276 mi	Hengyang	$609
464 km or 288 mi	Liuzhou	$587
467 km or 290 mi	Laibin	$608