Cologne vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cologne	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1744	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4212	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$947	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$1673	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$491	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$174	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3148	$1644
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	92	100
😀 Quality of life	96	78
🏙️ Population	1.09M	24.9M

The cost of living in Cologne is 59% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 2551st and 4858th ($1744 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 24th and 6th in Germany and China, respectively. Check Germany vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Cologne compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Cologne ranked 2nd best city to live in Germany vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 12th and 675th 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	$13.1	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.3	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.67	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$3.64	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.1	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$963	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$743	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1902	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1332	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$120	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.4	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.01%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6163	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5539	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.35	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$56.6	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$22.1	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.83	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.23	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.8	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.95	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.1	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.26	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.22	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.56	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.09	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.2	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.75	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.5	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$32.5	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.9	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.2	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.4	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.7	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$773	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15595	$30174

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	$1578
10 km or 6.4 mi	Leverkusen	$1822
10 km or 6.4 mi	Frechen	$1569
13 km or 7.9 mi	Bruhl	$1559
13 km or 7.9 mi	Pulheim	$1572
14 km or 8.4 mi	Wesseling	$1554
14 km or 8.5 mi	Bergisch Gladbach	$1586
15 km or 9.3 mi	Niederkassel	$1551
16 km or 10 mi	Rosrath	$1536
18 km or 11 mi	Monheim am Rhein	$1576
19 km or 12 mi	Dormagen	$1561
19 km or 12 mi	Erftstadt	$1534
19 km or 12 mi	Langenfeld	$1577
20 km or 12 mi	Troisdorf	$1544
20 km or 12 mi	Leichlingen	$1559
20 km or 12 mi	Kerpen	$1529
21 km or 13 mi	Bornheim	$1554
21 km or 13 mi	Lohmar	$1523
22 km or 14 mi	Bergheim	$1518
23 km or 15 mi	Siegburg	$1522
24 km or 15 mi	Overath	$1497
25 km or 16 mi	Sankt Augustin	$1542
25 km or 16 mi	Bonn	$1677
26 km or 16 mi	Hilden	$1522
26 km or 16 mi	Solingen	$1580
27 km or 17 mi	Elsdorf	$1502
28 km or 17 mi	Wermelskirchen	$1497
28 km or 17 mi	Haan	$1517
28 km or 18 mi	Bedburg	$1504
29 km or 18 mi	Hennef	$1494
31 km or 19 mi	Grevenbroich	$1499
31 km or 19 mi	Remscheid	$1494
31 km or 20 mi	Erkrath	$1516
33 km or 20 mi	Konigswinter	$1446
34 km or 21 mi	Euskirchen	$1503
34 km or 21 mi	Neuss	$1495
34 km or 21 mi	Mettmann	$1479
35 km or 21 mi	Zulpich	$1490
35 km or 21 mi	Meckenheim	$1500
35 km or 22 mi	Dusseldorf	$1772

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