Canberra vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Canberra	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2223	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4990	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$1398	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$2158	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$563	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$119	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4087	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	30	99
😀 Quality of life	85	75
🏙️ Population	381K	24.9M

The cost of living in Canberra is 97% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1443rd and 4971st ($2223 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 12th and 5th in Australia and China, respectively. Check Australia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Canberra compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Canberra ranked 13th best city to live in Australia vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 479th 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 Canberra vs Shanghai

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

	Canberra	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.5	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$69.1	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.5	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.54	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$3.66	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.98	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1538	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1150	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2721	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1726	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$119	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$182	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.8	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.89%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8609	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5425	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.53	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$88.3	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.6	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.33	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.4	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.62	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.99	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.14	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.61	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.4	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.69	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.44	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.47	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.44	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.89	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.28	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.4	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.86	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$26.9	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.98	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.81	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.5	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.08	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$57.5	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.3	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.8	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$19.2	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$79.1	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$112	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2023	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15408	$27781

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Canberra

Distance	City	Cost of living
81 km or 50 mi	Goulburn	$1821
161 km or 100 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
187 km or 116 mi	Wollongong	$1695
212 km or 132 mi	Bathurst	$1699
223 km or 139 mi	Orange	$1477
235 km or 146 mi	Blacktown	$1710
238 km or 148 mi	Parramatta	$2482
243 km or 151 mi	Kellyville	$2050
247 km or 154 mi	Sydney	$2844
261 km or 162 mi	Dee Why	$2379
303 km or 188 mi	Griffith	$1824
341 km or 212 mi	Dubbo	$1867
357 km or 222 mi	Shepparton	$1815
358 km or 222 mi	Newcastle	$1997
397 km or 246 mi	Traralgon	$1979
448 km or 278 mi	Pakenham	$1896
454 km or 282 mi	Berwick	$1860
459 km or 285 mi	Dandenong	$1894
464 km or 288 mi	Cranbourne	$1798
466 km or 289 mi	South Yarra	$1829
466 km or 290 mi	Bendigo	$1487
466 km or 290 mi	Melbourne	$2496
470 km or 292 mi	Sunbury	$1928
477 km or 297 mi	Frankston	$1889
485 km or 302 mi	Melton	$1906
488 km or 303 mi	Tarneit	$1822
489 km or 304 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1854
531 km or 330 mi	Geelong	$2217
535 km or 332 mi	Ballarat	$1604
554 km or 344 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
583 km or 362 mi	Armidale	$1288
649 km or 403 mi	Mildura	$1904
669 km or 415 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172
684 km or 425 mi	Warrnambool	$1870
698 km or 434 mi	Devonport	$1898
706 km or 438 mi	Launceston	$1753
796 km or 495 mi	Mount Gambier	$1901
852 km or 529 mi	Byron Bay	$2703
858 km or 533 mi	Hobart	$2308
902 km or 560 mi	Toowoomba	$1766

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