Dar es Salaam vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Dar es Salaam	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$799	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2068	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$363	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$605	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$244	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$130	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$288	$931
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	45	100
😀 Quality of life	59	77
🏙️ Population	4.72M	24.9M

The cost of living in Dar es Salaam is 29% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 6675th and 4879th ($799 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th in Tanzania and China, respectively. Check Tanzania vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Dar es Salaam compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Dar es Salaam ranked 1st best city to live in Tanzania vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 6017th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Dar es Salaam vs Shanghai infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/dar-es-salaam/shanghai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Dar es Salaam vs Shanghai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/dar-es-salaam/shanghai" target="_blank">Dar es Salaam vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Dar es Salaam vs Shanghai

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

	Dar es Salaam	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.25	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$19.3	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.3	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$2.09	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.41	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$419	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$235	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$737	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$422	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$55.2	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$84.4	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$36.1	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	19.82%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1361	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1189	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.27	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$15.8	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.8	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.13	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.82	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.19	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.15	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.75	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.96	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.42	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.73	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.32	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.3	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.7	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.98	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.14	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.29	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.94	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.28	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$87.5	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.52	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17.8	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.61	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$22.3	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$40.7	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$435	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17749	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dar es Salaam

Distance	City	Cost of living
71 km or 44 mi	Zanzibar	$609
71 km or 44 mi	Stone Town	$567
179 km or 111 mi	Morogoro	$421
194 km or 120 mi	Tanga	$552
309 km or 192 mi	Mombasa	$596
395 km or 246 mi	Dodoma	$526
409 km or 254 mi	Malindi	$548
441 km or 274 mi	Moshi	$533
478 km or 297 mi	Arusha	$612
629 km or 391 mi	Machakos	$420
671 km or 417 mi	Nairobi	$811
684 km or 425 mi	Mbeya	$495
684 km or 425 mi	Thika	$460
698 km or 434 mi	Moroni	$1207
700 km or 435 mi	Pemba	$1511
774 km or 481 mi	Mzuzu	$527
783 km or 486 mi	Meru	$549
808 km or 502 mi	Nakuru	$503
836 km or 520 mi	Domoni	$1207
843 km or 524 mi	Mzimba	$565
853 km or 530 mi	Mwanza	$656
864 km or 537 mi	Nacala	$1168
899 km or 559 mi	Kisumu	$543
925 km or 575 mi	Nampula	$935
927 km or 576 mi	Eldoret	$528
931 km or 578 mi	Mamoudzou	$1624
938 km or 583 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
955 km or 594 mi	Mumias	$511
959 km or 596 mi	Mangochi	$496
969 km or 602 mi	Kasama	$888
1000 km or 621 mi	Lilongwe	$592
1007 km or 626 mi	Tororo	$623
1026 km or 637 mi	Ntcheu	$493
1044 km or 648 mi	Mbale	$654
1047 km or 651 mi	Zomba	$458
1049 km or 652 mi	Jinja	$582
1067 km or 663 mi	Ruyigi	$687
1074 km or 667 mi	Entebbe	$578
1076 km or 668 mi	Rutana	$688
1084 km or 674 mi	Muyinga	$687

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