Damascus vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Damascus	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$671	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1492	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$315	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$505	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$250	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$61.5	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$47.6	$931
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	24 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	28	100
😀 Quality of life	39	77
🏙️ Population	2.69M	24.9M

The cost of living in Damascus is 41% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 7287th and 4879th ($671 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th in Syria and China, respectively. Check Syria vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.1 months in Damascus compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Damascus ranked 1st best city to live in Syria vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 7834th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Damascus vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Damascus vs Shanghai

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

	Damascus	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.99	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$28.8	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.96	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.61	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$1.95	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.38	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$219	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$160	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$398	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$295	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$88	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$135	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$54.5	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	13.62%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1865	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$645	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.1	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$17	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.96	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.43	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.98	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.5	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.83	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.22	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.18	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.5	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.76	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.71	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.65	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.46	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.1	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.97	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.01	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.03	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$0.86	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.48	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.59	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$16.2	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.98	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$3.82	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.78	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$44.4	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$58	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$49.6	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1711	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Damascus

Distance	City	Cost of living
51 km or 32 mi	Zahle	$930
75 km or 47 mi	Kiryat Shmona	$1808
81 km or 50 mi	Jounieh	$1028
83 km or 52 mi	Sidon	$822
83 km or 52 mi	Beirut	$1261
96 km or 59 mi	Safed	$1847
105 km or 65 mi	Tyre	$647
108 km or 67 mi	Tiberias	$1808
110 km or 68 mi	Ma'alot-Tarshiha	$1803
111 km or 69 mi	Tripoli	$787
114 km or 71 mi	Irbid	$753
115 km or 72 mi	Arraba	$1789
116 km or 72 mi	Karmiel	$1630
117 km or 73 mi	Sakhnin	$1745
125 km or 78 mi	Tamra	$1798
125 km or 78 mi	Nahariya	$1775
126 km or 78 mi	Nof HaGalil	$1862
129 km or 80 mi	Nazareth	$1850
130 km or 81 mi	Acre	$1633
131 km or 81 mi	Shefa-'Amr	$1828
135 km or 84 mi	Migdal HaEmek	$1917
136 km or 84 mi	Kiryat Motzkin	$1842
136 km or 85 mi	Kiryat Ata	$1769
137 km or 85 mi	Kiryat Yam	$1819
137 km or 85 mi	Kiryat Bialik	$1804
137 km or 85 mi	Afula	$1817
141 km or 88 mi	Homs	$402
142 km or 88 mi	Nesher	$1757
143 km or 89 mi	Jerash	$748
145 km or 90 mi	Haifa	$1840
145 km or 90 mi	Yokneam Illit	$1932
154 km or 95 mi	Umm al-Fahm	$1954
163 km or 101 mi	Zikhron Ya'akov	$1978
168 km or 105 mi	Baqa-Jatt	$2001
169 km or 105 mi	Pardes Hanna-Karkur	$1991
173 km or 107 mi	Al-Salt	$548
173 km or 108 mi	Nablus	$915
174 km or 108 mi	Hadera	$1786
177 km or 110 mi	Amman	$1009
184 km or 114 mi	Tayibe	$2108

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