Hamilton vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Hamilton	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2103	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4578	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1304	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$2079	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$562	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$123	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2679	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	73	100
😀 Quality of life	91	77
🏙️ Population	569K	24.9M

The cost of living in Hamilton is 86% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1725th and 4879th ($2103 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 23rd and 5th in Canada and China, respectively. Check Canada vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Hamilton compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Hamilton ranked 17th best city to live in Canada vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 176th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Hamilton vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Hamilton vs Shanghai

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

	Hamilton	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$19	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$71	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.8	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.7	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$4.08	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.1	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1167	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1163	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1899	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1884	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$90.7	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$141	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.85%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12302	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4675	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.5	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$86	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.8	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.06	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.11	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.02	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.82	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.16	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.38	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.8	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.67	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.53	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.83	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.57	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.98	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.15	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.8	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.32	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.8	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.63	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.24	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.5	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.7	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.8	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$45.6	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.9	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$54.4	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$95.8	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$618	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19470	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Hamilton

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.9 mi	Burlington	$2193
26 km or 16 mi	Oakville	$2379
32 km or 20 mi	Brantford	$1844
38 km or 23 mi	Cambridge	$2010
42 km or 26 mi	Mississauga	$2326
42 km or 26 mi	Halton Hills	$2012
45 km or 28 mi	Guelph	$1998
48 km or 30 mi	Brampton	$2033
52 km or 32 mi	St. Catharines	$2038
54 km or 34 mi	Kitchener	$2071
57 km or 36 mi	Waterloo	$1928
60 km or 37 mi	Welland	$1705
60 km or 37 mi	Toronto	$2464
67 km or 42 mi	Niagara Falls	$1894
71 km or 44 mi	Vaughan	$2241
71 km or 44 mi	Niagara Falls	$1947
76 km or 47 mi	Orangeville	$1869
78 km or 49 mi	Richmond Hill	$2463
79 km or 49 mi	Grand Island	$2049
85 km or 53 mi	North Tonawanda	$2045
86 km or 53 mi	Markham	$2242
90 km or 56 mi	Stratford	$1683
92 km or 57 mi	Buffalo	$2187
92 km or 57 mi	Amherst	$2096
92 km or 57 mi	New Tecumseth	$1995
95 km or 59 mi	Ajax	$2449
97 km or 60 mi	Lockport	$2044
98 km or 61 mi	West Seneca	$2109
99 km or 62 mi	Cheektowaga	$2124
100 km or 62 mi	Hamburg	$1868
107 km or 67 mi	Orchard Park	$2021
108 km or 67 mi	Lancaster	$2083
108 km or 67 mi	Clarence	$2082
109 km or 68 mi	Oshawa	$1564
116 km or 72 mi	London	$1931
127 km or 79 mi	Erie	$1925
127 km or 79 mi	Barrie	$1443
139 km or 86 mi	Jamestown	$2180
154 km or 96 mi	Orillia	$1936
169 km or 105 mi	Owen Sound	$1659

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