Glasgow vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Glasgow	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2121	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5025	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$1212	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$2121	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$561	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$174	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3514	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	93	99
😀 Quality of life	94	75
🏙️ Population	626K	24.9M

The cost of living in Glasgow is 88% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1712th and 4971st ($2121 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 93rd 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 1.7 months in Glasgow compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Glasgow ranked 3rd best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 42nd and 1655th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Glasgow vs Shanghai

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

	Glasgow	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$23	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$81.9	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.5	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.57	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$4.91	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.99	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1242	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$896	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2242	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1636	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$206	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$322	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.2	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.74%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4206	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3169	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$4.14	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$96.1	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.2	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.94	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.67	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.62	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.41	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.8	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.88	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.4	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.11	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.54	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.94	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.49	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.76	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.94	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.03	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.11	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$23.6	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.08	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.66	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.06	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.52	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16.4	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$87	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.5	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$129	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$963	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$20961	$27781

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Glasgow

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.9 mi	East Kilbride	$1902
11 km or 7.1 mi	Paisley	$1906
16 km or 10 mi	Hamilton	$1854
19 km or 12 mi	Cumbernauld	$1652
32 km or 20 mi	Kilmarnock	$1568
34 km or 21 mi	Greenock	$1645
35 km or 21 mi	Stirling	$1852
37 km or 23 mi	Irvine	$1707
40 km or 25 mi	Alloa	$1862
46 km or 29 mi	Livingston	$1784
50 km or 31 mi	Ayr	$1588
54 km or 34 mi	Dunfermline	$1782
66 km or 41 mi	Edinburgh	$2331
73 km or 45 mi	Kirkcaldy	$1821
78 km or 49 mi	Perth	$1656
97 km or 60 mi	Dumfries	$1490
104 km or 65 mi	Dundee	$1585
136 km or 85 mi	Carlisle	$1655
152 km or 94 mi	Whitehaven	$1771
161 km or 100 mi	Bangor	$1496
170 km or 106 mi	Newtownabbey	$1892
176 km or 110 mi	Belfast	$1954
181 km or 112 mi	Inverness	$2053
187 km or 116 mi	Lisburn	$1945
191 km or 119 mi	Douglas	$2265
193 km or 120 mi	Newcastle upon Tyne	$2012
195 km or 121 mi	Aberdeen	$1848
196 km or 121 mi	Gateshead	$1975
200 km or 124 mi	Jarrow	$1827
201 km or 125 mi	Tynemouth	$1803
202 km or 126 mi	South Shields	$1784
203 km or 126 mi	Washington	$1784
207 km or 128 mi	Elgin	$1540
208 km or 129 mi	Durham	$1964
210 km or 131 mi	Sunderland	$1573
211 km or 131 mi	Bishop Auckland	$1755
218 km or 135 mi	Derry	$1620
219 km or 136 mi	Morecambe	$1873
222 km or 138 mi	Lancaster	$1819
227 km or 141 mi	Darlington	$1430

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1002
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$669
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$782
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$594
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$620
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$644
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$557
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$667
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$683
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$643
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$650
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$584
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$671
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$636
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$680
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$684
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$623
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$646
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$860
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$647
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$652
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$611
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$652
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$604
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$675
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$678
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$525
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$618
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$626
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$644
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$667
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$677
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$601
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$665
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$632
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$765