Detroit vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Detroit	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2064	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4936	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$1212	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$2122	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$605	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$109	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3270	$1644
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	77	100
😀 Quality of life	86	78
🏙️ Population	639K	24.9M

The cost of living in Detroit is 88% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1678th and 4858th ($2064 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1488th and 6th 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 1.6 months in Detroit compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Detroit ranked 83rd best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 315th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Detroit vs Shanghai infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

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	$17.3	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$65.3	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.59	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$4.88	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.45	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1182	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$960	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2340	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1705	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$148	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$231	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$59.6	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.48%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1377	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1283	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.98	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$65.1	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.9	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.9	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.9	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.79	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.05	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.9	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.6	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.58	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.19	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.32	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.84	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.29	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.38	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.09	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.6	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.03	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.76	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.93	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.48	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.74	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$39.7	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$94.7	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.6	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$48.7	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$85.9	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1288	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16893	$30174

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	$1694
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Hamtramck	$2042
14 km or 8.6 mi	Dearborn	$2064
15 km or 9.1 mi	Lincoln Park	$1962
16 km or 9.8 mi	Allen Park	$2070
16 km or 10 mi	Ferndale	$2086
17 km or 10 mi	Wyandotte	$1786
17 km or 11 mi	Eastpointe	$2017
18 km or 11 mi	Madison Heights	$2102
18 km or 11 mi	Warren	$1957
19 km or 12 mi	Oak Park	$2071
19 km or 12 mi	Southgate	$1936
19 km or 12 mi	Royal Oak	$2093
20 km or 12 mi	Dearborn Heights	$2062
21 km or 13 mi	Roseville	$2022
21 km or 13 mi	Taylor	$2175
21 km or 13 mi	Southfield	$2083
22 km or 14 mi	St. Clair Shores	$2030
22 km or 14 mi	Inkster	$2087
24 km or 15 mi	Garden	$2032
26 km or 16 mi	Amherstburg	$1724
27 km or 17 mi	Birmingham	$2059
28 km or 17 mi	Sterling Heights	$2040
28 km or 17 mi	Livonia	$1940
29 km or 18 mi	Troy	$1963
29 km or 18 mi	Westland	$2065
30 km or 19 mi	Clinton Township	$2077
31 km or 19 mi	Romulus	$2081
32 km or 20 mi	Farmington Hills	$2390
37 km or 23 mi	Rochester Hills	$2019
39 km or 24 mi	Novi	$2288
40 km or 25 mi	Pontiac	$1837
42 km or 26 mi	Auburn Hills	$1959
54 km or 34 mi	Monroe	$1706
58 km or 36 mi	Ann Arbor	$2238
71 km or 44 mi	Chatham-Kent	$1778
86 km or 54 mi	Toledo	$1593
88 km or 54 mi	Burton	$1607
88 km or 54 mi	Port Huron	$1943
89 km or 55 mi	Sarnia	$1527

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