Budapest vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Budapest	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1185	$1136
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2918	$3654
🏠 One person rent	$589	$602
🏘️ Family rent	$1010	$1527
🍽️ Food expenses	$362	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$114	$116
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1262	$1905
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	18 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	92	100
😀 Quality of life	80	79
🏙️ Population	1.69M	24.9M

The cost of living in Budapest is 4% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 4643rd and 4780th ($1185 vs $1136) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Hungary and China, respectively. Check Hungary vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.1 months in Budapest compared to 1.7 months in Shanghai. Budapest ranked 1st best city to live in Hungary vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 551st and 571st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Budapest vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Budapest vs Shanghai

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

	Budapest	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.4	$3.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$47.3	$42.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.94	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.65	$1.43
☕ Cappuccino	$2.73	$3.61
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.68	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$603	$897
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$453	$461
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1093	$2549
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$799	$1181
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$86.9	$36.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$134	$56.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$18.5	$16.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.5%	4.28%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4116	$16156
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2686	$8893
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.27	$0.57
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.6	$36.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$12.8	$6.13
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.77	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.19	$2.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.34	$1.99
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.41
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.9	$2.11
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.4	$15.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.68	$3.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.3	$11.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.72	$2.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$2.05
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.83	$1.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$0.98
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.35	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.96	$1.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.76	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.12	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.1	$3.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$6.62
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.78	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.44	$1.72
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.24	$2.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$50	$55
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.59	$8.47
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.2	$90.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.9	$11.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$80.3	$58.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.2	$78.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$448	$1263
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11060	$31401

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Budapest

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Budafok-Teteny	$960
16 km or 9.8 mi	Erd	$849
16 km or 10 mi	Dunakeszi	$1018
17 km or 11 mi	Szigetszentmiklos	$901
27 km or 17 mi	Godollo	$992
32 km or 20 mi	Vac	$876
49 km or 31 mi	Tatabanya	$910
58 km or 36 mi	Szekesfehervar	$805
58 km or 36 mi	Dunaujvaros	$770
67 km or 42 mi	Cegled	$849
74 km or 46 mi	Komarno	$1067
82 km or 51 mi	Kecskemet	$953
84 km or 52 mi	Nove Zamky	$1037
86 km or 53 mi	Salgotarjan	$879
86 km or 53 mi	Levice	$898
93 km or 58 mi	Szolnok	$712
96 km or 59 mi	Veszprem	$883
104 km or 65 mi	Lucenec	$1166
107 km or 67 mi	Gyor	$788
109 km or 68 mi	Eger	$864
115 km or 72 mi	Nitra	$1062
121 km or 75 mi	Zvolen	$1574
123 km or 76 mi	Ozd	$879
130 km or 81 mi	Szekszard	$780
138 km or 86 mi	Banska Bystrica	$1103
139 km or 86 mi	Mosonmagyarovar	$827
145 km or 90 mi	Prievidza	$952
146 km or 91 mi	Trnava	$1197
146 km or 91 mi	Miskolc	$784
146 km or 91 mi	Baja	$761
150 km or 93 mi	Piestany	$935
153 km or 95 mi	Hodmezovasarhely	$837
158 km or 98 mi	Kaposvar	$745
160 km or 99 mi	Petrzalka	$1234
161 km or 100 mi	Bratislava	$1307
163 km or 101 mi	Subotica	$797
163 km or 101 mi	Szeged	$860
170 km or 106 mi	Pecs	$851
172 km or 107 mi	Trencin	$1150
174 km or 108 mi	Martin	$1090

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1028
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$706
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$749
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$738
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$585
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$661
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$718
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$620
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$676
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$706
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$685
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$612
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$733
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$674
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$742
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$702
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$729
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$674
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$843
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$676
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$690
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$629
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$698
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$630
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$673
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$698
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$650
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$651
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$703
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$708
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$699
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$702
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$771
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$648
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$774