Gaborone vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Gaborone	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$668	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1648	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$243	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$391	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$297	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$62.1	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$382	$931
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	39	100
😀 Quality of life	61	77
🏙️ Population	236K	24.9M

The cost of living in Gaborone is 41% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 7301st and 4879th ($668 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th in Botswana and China, respectively. Check Botswana vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Gaborone compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Gaborone ranked 1st best city to live in Botswana vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 5842nd and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Gaborone vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Gaborone vs Shanghai

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

	Gaborone	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.79	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$28.4	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.66	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.12	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$2.17	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.76	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$222	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$137	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$402	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$249	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$39.5	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$61.1	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$49.7	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.04%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1000	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$994	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.5	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$29	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.2	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.08	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.39	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.82	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.22	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.45	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.87	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.22	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.78	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.57	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.34	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$4.24	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.48	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.55	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.5	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.31	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.51	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.89	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$30.5	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.36	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$18.1	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.46	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$43.2	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$67.6	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$138	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3401	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Gaborone

Distance	City	Cost of living
50 km or 31 mi	Molepolole	$607
67 km or 42 mi	Lobatse	$637
67 km or 42 mi	Kanye	$637
136 km or 84 mi	Mmabatho	$833
174 km or 108 mi	Rustenburg	$940
196 km or 122 mi	Mahalapye	$577
215 km or 134 mi	Brits	$875
257 km or 160 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
258 km or 160 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
259 km or 161 mi	Pretoria	$975
264 km or 164 mi	Randburg	$890
265 km or 165 mi	Palapye	$514
266 km or 165 mi	Centurion	$892
266 km or 165 mi	Soweto	$984
266 km or 165 mi	Serowe	$536
269 km or 167 mi	Sandton	$984
275 km or 171 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
296 km or 184 mi	Benoni	$826
298 km or 185 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
302 km or 188 mi	Vereeniging	$706
310 km or 193 mi	Springs	$740
358 km or 222 mi	Kroonstad	$808
379 km or 235 mi	Welkom	$762
380 km or 236 mi	Middelburg	$830
407 km or 253 mi	Bethal	$838
421 km or 261 mi	Francistown	$587
468 km or 291 mi	Kimberley	$861
495 km or 308 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
514 km or 319 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
531 km or 330 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
540 km or 336 mi	Maseru	$650
559 km or 347 mi	Mbabane	$599
569 km or 354 mi	Bulawayo	$658
584 km or 363 mi	Manzini	$469
589 km or 366 mi	Mafeteng	$598
597 km or 371 mi	Vryheid	$827
628 km or 390 mi	Upington	$746
675 km or 419 mi	Matola	$908
685 km or 425 mi	Maputo	$915
705 km or 438 mi	Gweru	$587

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