Calgary vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Calgary	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2077	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4598	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$1226	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$1942	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$561	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$162	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3168	$1644
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	53	100
😀 Quality of life	90	78
🏙️ Population	1.31M	24.9M

The cost of living in Calgary is 89% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1646th and 4858th ($2077 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 23rd and 6th 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 1.5 months in Shanghai. Calgary ranked 8th best city to live in Canada vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 153rd and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Calgary vs Shanghai infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

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	$15.2	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$60.7	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.97	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.29	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$4.1	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.02	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1222	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$991	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2053	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1592	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$131	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$200	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$57.4	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.03%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3283	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3066	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.57	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$80.8	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.5	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.09	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.11	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.47	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.98	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.79	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.2	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.5	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.12	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.69	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.19	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.52	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.2	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.37	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.2	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.92	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.11	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.68	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.77	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.21	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.1	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.7	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.4	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$22.6	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.3	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$82.4	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$841	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16603	$30174

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	$1743
137 km or 85 mi	Red Deer	$1676
174 km or 108 mi	Lethbridge	$1614
248 km or 154 mi	Leduc	$1656
265 km or 165 mi	Medicine Hat	$1487
278 km or 173 mi	Spruce Grove	$1588
279 km or 173 mi	Edmonton	$1769
357 km or 222 mi	Sandpoint	$2568
402 km or 250 mi	Kelowna	$1886
422 km or 262 mi	Coeur d'Alene	$2299
426 km or 265 mi	Post Falls	$2284
429 km or 266 mi	Penticton	$1638
440 km or 273 mi	Spokane Valley	$2174
442 km or 275 mi	Kamloops	$1770
443 km or 275 mi	Great Falls	$2007
452 km or 281 mi	Spokane	$2163
466 km or 289 mi	Missoula	$2054
517 km or 322 mi	Helena	$2327
524 km or 325 mi	Saskatoon	$1786
526 km or 327 mi	Moscow	$1792
531 km or 330 mi	Pullman	$1612
556 km or 345 mi	Grande Prairie	$1778
560 km or 348 mi	Lewiston	$1884
572 km or 355 mi	Butte	$1632
579 km or 360 mi	Moses Lake	$2009
600 km or 373 mi	Chilliwack	$1761
603 km or 375 mi	Moose Jaw	$1360
607 km or 377 mi	Wenatchee	$2248
616 km or 382 mi	Prince Albert	$1446
630 km or 391 mi	Abbotsford	$1883
636 km or 395 mi	Whistler	$2023
637 km or 396 mi	Walla Walla	$1968
638 km or 396 mi	Bozeman	$2616
641 km or 398 mi	Maple Ridge	$1969
650 km or 404 mi	Langley	$2021
650 km or 404 mi	Pasco	$2050
651 km or 405 mi	Coquitlam	$2490
654 km or 406 mi	Bellingham	$2466
654 km or 406 mi	Richland	$2181
655 km or 407 mi	Fort McMurray	$1871

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