Cologne vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cologne	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1968	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4619	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1091	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$1830	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$536	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$196	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3266	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	91	100
😀 Quality of life	96	77
🏙️ Population	1.09M	24.9M

The cost of living in Cologne is 74% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 2104th and 4879th ($1968 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 11th and 5th in Germany and China, respectively. Check Germany vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Cologne compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Cologne ranked 1st best city to live in Germany vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 23rd and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cologne vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Cologne vs Shanghai

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

	Cologne	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.4	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$71.5	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.26	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$4.06	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.38	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1103	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$870	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1997	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1478	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$206	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.8	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.8%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6855	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5848	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.93	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$67.6	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$24	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.03	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.38	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.03	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.87	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.16	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.7	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.6	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$23.3	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.63	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.77	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.45	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.3	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.05	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.07	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.45	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.67	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.3	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.3	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$54.3	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.9	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$98	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$109	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$773	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19386	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cologne

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Hurth	$1759
10 km or 6.4 mi	Leverkusen	$2037
10 km or 6.4 mi	Frechen	$1745
13 km or 7.9 mi	Bruhl	$1744
13 km or 7.9 mi	Pulheim	$1741
14 km or 8.4 mi	Wesseling	$1740
14 km or 8.5 mi	Bergisch Gladbach	$1726
15 km or 9.3 mi	Niederkassel	$1750
16 km or 10 mi	Rosrath	$1699
18 km or 11 mi	Monheim am Rhein	$1740
19 km or 12 mi	Dormagen	$1711
19 km or 12 mi	Erftstadt	$1702
19 km or 12 mi	Langenfeld	$1727
20 km or 12 mi	Troisdorf	$1736
20 km or 12 mi	Leichlingen	$1708
20 km or 12 mi	Kerpen	$1695
21 km or 13 mi	Bornheim	$1770
21 km or 13 mi	Lohmar	$1694
22 km or 14 mi	Bergheim	$1678
23 km or 15 mi	Siegburg	$1716
24 km or 15 mi	Overath	$1642
25 km or 16 mi	Sankt Augustin	$1747
25 km or 16 mi	Bonn	$1957
26 km or 16 mi	Hilden	$1674
26 km or 16 mi	Solingen	$1691
27 km or 17 mi	Elsdorf	$1654
28 km or 17 mi	Wermelskirchen	$1630
28 km or 17 mi	Haan	$1645
28 km or 18 mi	Bedburg	$1650
29 km or 18 mi	Hennef	$1666
31 km or 19 mi	Grevenbroich	$1659
31 km or 19 mi	Remscheid	$1608
31 km or 20 mi	Erkrath	$1661
33 km or 20 mi	Konigswinter	$1611
34 km or 21 mi	Euskirchen	$1674
34 km or 21 mi	Neuss	$1650
34 km or 21 mi	Mettmann	$1613
35 km or 21 mi	Zulpich	$1662
35 km or 21 mi	Meckenheim	$1689
35 km or 22 mi	Dusseldorf	$1979

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