Brussels vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Brussels	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1816	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4478	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$1024	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$1880	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$567	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.5	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2931	$1644
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	96	100
😀 Quality of life	89	78
🏙️ Population	196K	24.9M

The cost of living in Brussels is 66% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 2354th and 4858th ($1816 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Belgium and China, respectively. Check Belgium vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Brussels compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 190th and 675th 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	$18.9	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76.1	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.16	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$4.01	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$973	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$770	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1932	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1489	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$161	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$250	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.7	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.61%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4675	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4207	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.62	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$53.2	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.8	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.42	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.19	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.21	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.6	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.32	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.7	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.25	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.54	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.78	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.8	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.9	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.2	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.5	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$975	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19505	$30174

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	$1651
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1663
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1667
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1692
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1580
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1647
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1642
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1660
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1539
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1685
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1618
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$1788
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1626
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1556
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1615
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1594
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1541
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1607
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1585
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1536
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1599
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1560
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1663
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1683
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1446
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1492
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1537
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1523
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1461
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1488
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1530
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1362
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1509
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1520
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1475
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1514
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1578
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1613
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1488
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1640

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