Gold Coast vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Gold Coast	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2528	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5661	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$1635	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$2683	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$646	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$114	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3481	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	20 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	49	99
😀 Quality of life	92	75
🏙️ Population	608K	24.9M

The cost of living in Gold Coast is 124% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 839th and 4971st ($2528 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 5th in Australia and China, respectively. Check Australia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Gold Coast compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Gold Coast ranked 6th best city to live in Australia vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 124th 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 Gold Coast vs Shanghai

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

	Gold Coast	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$19.7	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$108	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.8	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.08	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$3.86	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.05	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1886	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1330	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2881	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2303	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$136	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$207	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$57.9	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.76%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7538	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4593	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.84	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$57.5	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.4	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.29	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.61	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.89	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.67	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.06	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.71	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.77	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.8	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.8	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.06	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.59	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.44	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.59	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.6	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.65	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.15	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.4	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.29	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$26.1	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.19	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.13	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.53	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.15	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$38.4	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.2	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$56.9	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.7	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$70.4	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2105	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$8134	$27781

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Gold Coast

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.6 km or 3.5 mi	Southport	$2352
71 km or 44 mi	Brisbane	$2269
73 km or 45 mi	Byron Bay	$2703
77 km or 48 mi	Ipswich	$1813
114 km or 71 mi	Caboolture	$1988
138 km or 86 mi	Caloundra	$1864
152 km or 94 mi	Toowoomba	$1766
155 km or 97 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1835
256 km or 159 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172
308 km or 192 mi	Hervey Bay	$1864
323 km or 201 mi	Armidale	$1288
367 km or 228 mi	Bundaberg	$1727
383 km or 238 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
511 km or 318 mi	Gladstone	$1640
567 km or 353 mi	Newcastle	$1997
591 km or 367 mi	Rockhampton	$1635
660 km or 410 mi	Dubbo	$1867
669 km or 416 mi	Dee Why	$2379
675 km or 419 mi	Kellyville	$2050
683 km or 424 mi	Blacktown	$1710
683 km or 425 mi	Sydney	$2844
684 km or 425 mi	Parramatta	$2482
703 km or 437 mi	Bathurst	$1699
715 km or 445 mi	Orange	$1477
752 km or 468 mi	Wollongong	$1695
827 km or 514 mi	Goulburn	$1821
904 km or 562 mi	Canberra	$2223
974 km or 605 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
988 km or 614 mi	Griffith	$1824
1182 km or 734 mi	Townsville	$1839
1196 km or 743 mi	Shepparton	$1815
1271 km or 789 mi	Mildura	$1904
1294 km or 804 mi	Bendigo	$1487
1299 km or 807 mi	Traralgon	$1979
1337 km or 830 mi	Sunbury	$1928
1338 km or 831 mi	Pakenham	$1896
1342 km or 834 mi	Berwick	$1860
1344 km or 835 mi	Melbourne	$2496
1344 km or 835 mi	South Yarra	$1829
1344 km or 835 mi	Dandenong	$1894

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