Frankfurt vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Frankfurt	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1989	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4617	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$1125	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$1929	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$534	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$170	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3700	$1644
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	87	100
😀 Quality of life	94	78
🏙️ Population	776K	24.9M

The cost of living in Frankfurt is 81% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1863rd and 4858th ($1989 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 6th in Germany and China, respectively. Check Germany vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Frankfurt compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Frankfurt ranked 7th best city to live in Germany vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 47th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Frankfurt vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Frankfurt vs Shanghai

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

	Frankfurt	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$19.1	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$72.5	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.06	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$3.92	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.17	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1133	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$849	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2172	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1473	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$282	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$33.7	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.01%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8106	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4832	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.86	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$54.5	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$26.3	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.3	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.96	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.52	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.02	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.5	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.91	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.84	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.82	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.11	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.97	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.41	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.52	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.67	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.15	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.7	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.8	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$95.1	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$19.1	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$86	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.7	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$555	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14496	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Frankfurt

Distance	City	Cost of living
6.4 km or 4 mi	Offenbach am Main	$1566
6.6 km or 4.1 mi	Neu-Isenburg	$1680
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Bad Vilbel	$1670
8.6 km or 5.3 mi	Eschborn	$1717
11 km or 6.6 mi	Dreieich	$1662
11 km or 6.7 mi	Muhlheim am Main	$1589
12 km or 7.3 mi	Maintal	$1599
12 km or 7.7 mi	Oberursel	$1682
13 km or 8 mi	Obertshausen	$1592
13 km or 8.2 mi	Bad Soden	$1707
14 km or 8.4 mi	Dietzenbach	$1626
14 km or 8.6 mi	Bad Homburg vor der Hohe	$1660
14 km or 8.6 mi	Langen	$1651
15 km or 9.1 mi	Karben	$1631
15 km or 9.1 mi	Hattersheim am Main	$1698
16 km or 9.9 mi	Morfelden-Walldorf	$1665
16 km or 10 mi	Friedrichsdorf	$1624
16 km or 10 mi	Kelkheim	$1705
17 km or 11 mi	Hofheim	$1708
17 km or 11 mi	Hanau	$1591
18 km or 11 mi	Rodgau	$1606
18 km or 11 mi	Rodermark	$1618
19 km or 12 mi	Bruchkobel	$1601
21 km or 13 mi	Florsheim am Main	$1689
22 km or 14 mi	Nidderau	$1595
22 km or 14 mi	Seligenstadt	$1608
23 km or 14 mi	Russelsheim am Main	$1698
24 km or 15 mi	Weiterstadt	$1605
25 km or 16 mi	Friedberg	$1623
26 km or 16 mi	Gro-Gerau	$1641
28 km or 17 mi	Darmstadt	$1632
29 km or 18 mi	Bad Nauheim	$1620
30 km or 18 mi	Griesheim	$1605
32 km or 20 mi	Wiesbaden	$1879
32 km or 20 mi	Idstein	$1707
32 km or 20 mi	Mainz	$1666
33 km or 20 mi	Gro-Umstadt	$1614
34 km or 21 mi	Riedstadt	$1614
35 km or 22 mi	Pfungstadt	$1603
36 km or 22 mi	Butzbach	$1595

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