Brussels vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Brussels	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2028	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4874	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1133	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$1958	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$649	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$97.4	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3458	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	96	100
😀 Quality of life	91	77
🏙️ Population	196K	24.9M

The cost of living in Brussels is 80% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1913th and 4879th ($2028 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th in Belgium and China, respectively. Check Belgium vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Brussels compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 165th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brussels vs Shanghai infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/brussels/shanghai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Brussels vs Shanghai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/brussels/shanghai" target="_blank">Brussels vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Brussels vs Shanghai

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

	Brussels	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$25.6	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$77.4	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14.1	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.38	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$4.55	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.18	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1090	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$879	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1983	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1587	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$155	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$235	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$57.3	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.23%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4704	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3801	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.93	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$63.9	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$26.7	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.95	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.63	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.66	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.86	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.2	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.7	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.95	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.58	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.55	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.7	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.76	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.57	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.21	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.34	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.2	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.07	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.32	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.7	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.2	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.9	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.8	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$102	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1055	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22658	$27624

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	$1854
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1876
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1889
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1931
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1758
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1847
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1858
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1870
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1732
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1845
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1816
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$2025
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1835
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1791
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1863
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1787
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1835
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1801
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1806
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1745
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1823
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1768
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1846
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1867
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1571
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1648
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1746
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1737
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1657
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1830
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1696
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1794
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1722
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1724
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1745
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1671
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1867
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1804
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1666
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1818

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