Detroit vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Detroit	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2070	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5001	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$1144	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$1987	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$655	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$131	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3437	$1068
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	77	99
😀 Quality of life	87	76
🏙️ Population	639K	24.9M

The cost of living in Detroit is 80% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1839th and 4880th ($2070 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1457th and 5th in the United States and China, respectively. Check the United States vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Detroit compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. Detroit ranked 98th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 319th and 1178th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Detroit vs Shanghai

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

	Detroit	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$17.9	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$64.5	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.9	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.45	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$5.58	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.99	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1370	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$840	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2423	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1539	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$131	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$204	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$67.5	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.91%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1855	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1282	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.01	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$86.3	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.5	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.97	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.01	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.51	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.61	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.87	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.6	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.01	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.65	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.89	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.52	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.06	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.61	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.05	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.7	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.11	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.3	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$13.9	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.05	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.51	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.76	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.6	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.9	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$88.7	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.5	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.8	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$95.7	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1375	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16262	$27610

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Detroit

Distance	City	Cost of living
1.9 km or 1.2 mi	Windsor	$1927
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Hamtramck	$1951
14 km or 8.6 mi	Dearborn	$1984
15 km or 9.1 mi	Lincoln Park	$1926
16 km or 9.8 mi	Allen Park	$1976
16 km or 10 mi	Ferndale	$1928
17 km or 10 mi	Wyandotte	$1740
17 km or 11 mi	Eastpointe	$1837
18 km or 11 mi	Madison Heights	$1924
18 km or 11 mi	Warren	$1683
19 km or 12 mi	Oak Park	$1921
19 km or 12 mi	Southgate	$1895
19 km or 12 mi	Royal Oak	$1938
20 km or 12 mi	Dearborn Heights	$1943
21 km or 13 mi	Roseville	$1891
21 km or 13 mi	Taylor	$2031
21 km or 13 mi	Southfield	$1820
22 km or 14 mi	St. Clair Shores	$1888
22 km or 14 mi	Inkster	$1951
24 km or 15 mi	Garden	$1781
26 km or 16 mi	Amherstburg	$1881
27 km or 17 mi	Birmingham	$1994
28 km or 17 mi	Sterling Heights	$1730
28 km or 17 mi	Livonia	$1917
29 km or 18 mi	Troy	$2031
29 km or 18 mi	Westland	$1961
30 km or 19 mi	Clinton Township	$1883
31 km or 19 mi	Romulus	$2007
32 km or 20 mi	Farmington Hills	$2156
37 km or 23 mi	Rochester Hills	$1958
39 km or 24 mi	Novi	$2307
40 km or 25 mi	Pontiac	$1857
42 km or 26 mi	Auburn Hills	$1959
54 km or 34 mi	Monroe	$1702
58 km or 36 mi	Ann Arbor	$2324
71 km or 44 mi	Chatham-Kent	$1791
86 km or 54 mi	Toledo	$1622
88 km or 54 mi	Burton	$1665
88 km or 54 mi	Port Huron	$1961
89 km or 55 mi	Sarnia	$1600

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1030
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$708
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$726
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$725
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$798
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$643
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$678
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$581
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$652
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$680
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$658
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$571
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$660
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$645
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$670
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$663
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$636
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$659
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$899
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$651
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$664
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$657
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$627
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$667
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$623
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$693
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$691
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$623
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$644
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$661
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$696
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$693
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$620
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$677
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$684
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$644
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$789