Edinburgh vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Edinburgh	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2295	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5636	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$1360	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$2398	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$601	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$153	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3514	$1068
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	88	99
😀 Quality of life	92	76
🏙️ Population	488K	24.9M

The cost of living in Edinburgh is 100% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1307th and 4880th ($2295 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 38th and 5th in the United Kingdom and China, respectively. Check the United Kingdom vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Edinburgh compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. Edinburgh ranked 11th best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 83rd 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 Edinburgh vs Shanghai

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

	Edinburgh	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$22.3	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$90	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.2	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.34	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$5	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.58	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1471	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1081	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2686	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1966	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$158	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$245	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.1	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.86%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6647	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4795	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.96	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$94.6	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.2	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.99	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.85	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.01	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.15	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.9	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.8	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.76	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.81	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.1	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.31	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.9	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.83	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$22.4	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.15	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.71	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.27	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.65	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$50.3	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$112	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$22.6	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.7	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$111	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1749	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$25458	$27610

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Edinburgh

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Kirkcaldy	$1794
21 km or 13 mi	Livingston	$1760
21 km or 13 mi	Dunfermline	$1750
42 km or 26 mi	Alloa	$1842
49 km or 30 mi	Cumbernauld	$1611
49 km or 31 mi	Stirling	$1835
52 km or 32 mi	Perth	$1640
56 km or 35 mi	Hamilton	$1831
59 km or 37 mi	Dundee	$1593
65 km or 40 mi	East Kilbride	$1878
66 km or 41 mi	Glasgow	$2114
78 km or 48 mi	Paisley	$1885
89 km or 56 mi	Kilmarnock	$1600
98 km or 61 mi	Greenock	$1647
99 km or 61 mi	Irvine	$1704
102 km or 63 mi	Dumfries	$1456
105 km or 65 mi	Ayr	$1586
120 km or 74 mi	Carlisle	$1596
147 km or 91 mi	Newcastle upon Tyne	$1979
149 km or 93 mi	Aberdeen	$1806
150 km or 93 mi	Gateshead	$1943
153 km or 95 mi	Tynemouth	$1784
153 km or 95 mi	Jarrow	$1820
154 km or 96 mi	South Shields	$1777
158 km or 98 mi	Washington	$1778
158 km or 98 mi	Whitehaven	$1798
164 km or 102 mi	Sunderland	$1554
166 km or 103 mi	Durham	$1872
173 km or 107 mi	Bishop Auckland	$1742
182 km or 113 mi	Inverness	$2005
189 km or 117 mi	Hartlepool	$1417
189 km or 117 mi	Elgin	$1523
190 km or 118 mi	Darlington	$1404
194 km or 121 mi	Stockton-on-Tees	$1424
197 km or 123 mi	Middlesbrough	$1741
211 km or 131 mi	Morecambe	$1834
212 km or 132 mi	Bangor	$1485
213 km or 132 mi	Lancaster	$1791
216 km or 134 mi	Douglas	$2236
224 km or 139 mi	Newtownabbey	$1820

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