Calgary vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Calgary	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2118	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4745	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$1202	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$1911	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$591	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$173	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3199	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	53	99
😀 Quality of life	90	75
🏙️ Population	1.31M	24.9M

The cost of living in Calgary is 88% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1716th and 4971st ($2118 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 29th and 5th in Canada and China, respectively. Check Canada vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Calgary compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Calgary ranked 21st best city to live in Canada vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 209th and 1655th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Calgary vs Shanghai

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

	Calgary	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$17	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$65	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.29	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$4.2	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.03	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1224	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$957	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2059	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1544	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$132	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$204	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$59.8	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.55%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3738	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3570	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.94	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$87.1	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.5	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.98	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.98	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.42	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.79	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.8	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.7	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.1	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.28	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.02	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.42	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.82	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.17	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.28	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.5	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.95	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.7	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.3	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.63	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.56	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.51	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$55.4	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.8	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$93.1	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$23.2	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.1	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.8	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$830	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15430	$27781

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Calgary

Distance	City	Cost of living
106 km or 66 mi	Banff	$1801
137 km or 85 mi	Red Deer	$1841
174 km or 108 mi	Lethbridge	$1761
248 km or 154 mi	Leduc	$1775
265 km or 165 mi	Medicine Hat	$1620
278 km or 173 mi	Spruce Grove	$1676
279 km or 173 mi	Edmonton	$1878
357 km or 222 mi	Sandpoint	$2593
402 km or 250 mi	Kelowna	$1993
422 km or 262 mi	Coeur d'Alene	$2331
426 km or 265 mi	Post Falls	$2315
429 km or 266 mi	Penticton	$1773
440 km or 273 mi	Spokane Valley	$2205
442 km or 275 mi	Kamloops	$1815
443 km or 275 mi	Great Falls	$1956
452 km or 281 mi	Spokane	$2187
466 km or 289 mi	Missoula	$2156
517 km or 322 mi	Helena	$2544
524 km or 325 mi	Saskatoon	$1821
526 km or 327 mi	Moscow	$1697
531 km or 330 mi	Pullman	$1899
556 km or 345 mi	Grande Prairie	$1892
560 km or 348 mi	Lewiston	$1701
572 km or 355 mi	Butte	$1634
579 km or 360 mi	Moses Lake	$2009
600 km or 373 mi	Chilliwack	$1884
603 km or 375 mi	Moose Jaw	$1506
607 km or 377 mi	Wenatchee	$2241
616 km or 382 mi	Prince Albert	$1486
630 km or 391 mi	Abbotsford	$2034
636 km or 395 mi	Whistler	$2470
637 km or 396 mi	Walla Walla	$2046
638 km or 396 mi	Bozeman	$2677
641 km or 398 mi	Maple Ridge	$2326
650 km or 404 mi	Langley	$2054
650 km or 404 mi	Pasco	$2074
651 km or 405 mi	Coquitlam	$2590
654 km or 406 mi	Bellingham	$2526
654 km or 406 mi	Richland	$2460
655 km or 407 mi	Fort McMurray	$1934

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1002
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$669
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$782
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$594
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$620
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$644
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$557
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$667
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$683
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$643
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$650
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$584
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$671
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$636
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$680
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$684
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$623
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$646
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$860
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$647
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$652
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$611
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$652
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$604
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$675
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$678
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$525
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$618
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$626
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$644
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$667
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$677
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$601
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$665
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$632
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$765