Honolulu vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Honolulu	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3331	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7928	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$2072	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$3682	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$911	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$134	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4111	$1068
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	58	99
😀 Quality of life	85	76
🏙️ Population	351K	24.9M

The cost of living in Honolulu is 190% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 79th and 4880th ($3331 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 59th and 5th in the United States and China, respectively. Check the United States vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Honolulu compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. Honolulu ranked 143rd best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 433rd and 1178th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Honolulu vs Shanghai

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

	Honolulu	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$23.4	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$111	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$9.67	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$8.71	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$4.71	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2390	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1716	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4305	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3150	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$157	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$237	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$64	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.21%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8773	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7272	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.02	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$87.3	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$25.2	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.33	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.09	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$6.2	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.61	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$8.5	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.1	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.7	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$21	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.39	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.32	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.9	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.72	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.07	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.92	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.32	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$4.63	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$20.5	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.53	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.7	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.9	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.05	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$7.05	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.48	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$57.9	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$19.3	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$172	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$25.5	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.4	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$112	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2145	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$26966	$27610

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Honolulu

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.1 mi	East Honolulu	$2997
16 km or 10 mi	Pearl	$2649
19 km or 12 mi	Waipahu	$2760
24 km or 15 mi	Mililani Mauka	$2676
152 km or 94 mi	Kahului	$3302
191 km or 118 mi	Kauai	$2888
267 km or 166 mi	Kailua-Kona	$3565
339 km or 211 mi	Hilo	$2463
2149 km or 1335 mi	London	$526
3662 km or 2275 mi	Djarrit	$1497
3674 km or 2283 mi	Majuro	$1499
3836 km or 2383 mi	Eureka	$2064
3840 km or 2386 mi	Ukiah	$2364
3843 km or 2388 mi	Pacifica	$3245
3847 km or 2390 mi	Daly	$3264
3848 km or 2391 mi	San Bruno	$3261
3849 km or 2392 mi	South San Francisco	$3252
3849 km or 2392 mi	Millbrae	$3276
3850 km or 2392 mi	Windsor	$2889
3852 km or 2393 mi	Rohnert Park	$2968
3852 km or 2393 mi	San Rafael	$4178
3852 km or 2394 mi	Burlingame	$3310
3853 km or 2394 mi	Petaluma	$3286
3853 km or 2394 mi	Novato	$3181
3854 km or 2395 mi	San Francisco	$4110
3855 km or 2395 mi	Santa Rosa	$2903
3855 km or 2396 mi	San Mateo	$3797
3856 km or 2396 mi	Belmont	$3577
3858 km or 2397 mi	San Carlos	$3357
3859 km or 2398 mi	South Tarawa	$526
3859 km or 2398 mi	Foster	$3588
3859 km or 2398 mi	Redwood	$3728
3860 km or 2398 mi	Monterey	$2905
3860 km or 2399 mi	Santa Cruz	$3582
3863 km or 2400 mi	Menlo Park	$3357
3864 km or 2401 mi	Seaside	$1936
3866 km or 2402 mi	Richmond	$3102
3866 km or 2402 mi	Palo Alto	$3808
3867 km or 2403 mi	San Pablo	$3086
3867 km or 2403 mi	Los Altos	$3194

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1030
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$708
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$726
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$725
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$798
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$643
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$678
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$581
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$652
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$680
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$658
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$571
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$660
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$645
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$670
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$663
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$636
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$659
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$899
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$651
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$664
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$657
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$627
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$667
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$623
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$693
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$691
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$623
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$644
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$661
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$696
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$693
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$620
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$677
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$684
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$644
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$789