Brussels vs Shenzhen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Brussels	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1816	$916
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4478	$2694
🏠 One person rent	$1024	$478
🏘️ Family rent	$1880	$1142
🍽️ Food expenses	$567	$261
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.5	$85.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2931	$1771
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	96	96
😀 Quality of life	89	80
🏙️ Population	196K	17.7M

The cost of living in Brussels is 98% more expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 2354th and 5950th ($1816 vs $916) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 12th 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 1.9 months in Shenzhen. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Shenzhen ranked 3rd in China, while ranked 190th and 545th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brussels vs Shenzhen infographic

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Prices in Brussels vs Shenzhen

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

	Brussels	Shenzhen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.9	$3.06
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76.1	$27.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$5.23
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.16	$1.11
☕ Cappuccino	$4.01	$3.03
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$0.46
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$973	$667
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$770	$360
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1932	$1650
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1489	$917
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$161	$43.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$250	$65.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.7	$13.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.61%	4.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4675	$12583
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4207	$6551
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.62	$0.41
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$53.2	$23.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.8	$4.51
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.42	$1.89
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.18
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.19	$1.89
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$13
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$4.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$13.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$1.9
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$1.73
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$1.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.08
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$0.4
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.21	$1.05
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.6	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.32	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.7	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.25	$5.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.54	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$1.63
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.78	$1.91
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$48.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.8	$6.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.9	$33.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.2	$9.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.5	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$78
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$975	$502
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19505	$22267

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 Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2432
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2737
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$653
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$656
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1588
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$461
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$601
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$804
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$774
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$611
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$936
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$812
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$764
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$794
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$793
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$823
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$877
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$569
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$818
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$443
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$581
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$655
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$451
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$803
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$755
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$758
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$761
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$756
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$761
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$724
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$771
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$764
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$649
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$664
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$702
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$688
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$650
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$823
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$522
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$609