Canberra vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Canberra	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2019	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4571	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1242	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$1958	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$519	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$129	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3565	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	30	100
😀 Quality of life	86	77
🏙️ Population	381K	24.9M

The cost of living in Canberra is 79% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1949th and 4879th ($2019 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 14th 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 10th best city to live in Australia vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 413th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Canberra vs Shanghai infographic

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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	$14.3	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$65.8	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.5	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.6	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$3.3	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.6	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1348	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1007	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2461	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1543	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$121	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$185	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$46.7	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.01%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7420	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4762	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.28	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$105	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.7	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.2	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.34	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.41	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.51	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.6	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.15	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.15	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.88	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.77	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.11	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.3	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.74	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$24.8	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.62	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.44	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.37	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.95	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$50.5	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.9	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.7	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$17.6	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$68.9	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.5	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1751	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13305	$27624

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	$1678
161 km or 100 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1458
187 km or 116 mi	Wollongong	$1580
212 km or 132 mi	Bathurst	$1568
223 km or 139 mi	Orange	$1364
235 km or 146 mi	Blacktown	$1599
238 km or 148 mi	Parramatta	$2292
243 km or 151 mi	Kellyville	$1888
247 km or 154 mi	Sydney	$2640
261 km or 162 mi	Dee Why	$2181
303 km or 188 mi	Griffith	$1667
341 km or 212 mi	Dubbo	$1747
357 km or 222 mi	Shepparton	$1662
358 km or 222 mi	Newcastle	$1839
397 km or 246 mi	Traralgon	$1813
448 km or 278 mi	Pakenham	$1725
454 km or 282 mi	Berwick	$1706
459 km or 285 mi	Dandenong	$1736
464 km or 288 mi	Cranbourne	$1674
466 km or 289 mi	South Yarra	$1681
466 km or 290 mi	Bendigo	$1362
466 km or 290 mi	Melbourne	$2308
470 km or 292 mi	Sunbury	$1768
477 km or 297 mi	Frankston	$1728
485 km or 302 mi	Melton	$1738
488 km or 303 mi	Tarneit	$1673
489 km or 304 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1697
531 km or 330 mi	Geelong	$2058
535 km or 332 mi	Ballarat	$1464
554 km or 344 mi	Port Macquarie	$1633
583 km or 362 mi	Armidale	$1184
649 km or 403 mi	Mildura	$1771
669 km or 415 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1988
684 km or 425 mi	Warrnambool	$1718
698 km or 434 mi	Devonport	$1786
706 km or 438 mi	Launceston	$1660
796 km or 495 mi	Mount Gambier	$1753
852 km or 529 mi	Byron Bay	$2471
858 km or 533 mi	Hobart	$2127
902 km or 560 mi	Toowoomba	$1639

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1003
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$673
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$696
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$771
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$597
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$612
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$632
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$547
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$648
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$679
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$631
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$634
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$576
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$713
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$621
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$740
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$674
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$601
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$630
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$826
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$622
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$634
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$639
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$597
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$642
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$597
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$664
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$531
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$602
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$618
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$637
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$672
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$663
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$590
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$666
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$659
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$617
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$753