Houston vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Houston	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2240	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5311	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1275	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$2042	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$591	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$199	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4580	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	100	100
😀 Quality of life	93	77
🏙️ Population	2.3M	24.9M

The cost of living in Houston is 99% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1375th and 4879th ($2240 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1186th 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 2 months in Houston compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Houston ranked 15th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 77th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Houston vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Houston vs Shanghai

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

	Houston	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.5	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$72	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.31	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$5.42	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.76	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1397	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$997	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2394	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1614	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$207	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.4	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.45%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2608	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1961	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.24	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$71	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.5	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.75	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.93	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.1	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.58	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.7	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.5	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.6	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.1	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.77	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.58	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.44	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.42	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.3	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.4	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.01	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.68	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.36	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.92	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.88	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.19	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.6	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$141	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$22.5	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$46	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$98.4	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1504	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$23708	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Houston

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Pasadena	$2240
25 km or 15 mi	Pearland	$2177
25 km or 16 mi	Missouri	$2216
27 km or 17 mi	Deer Park	$2260
29 km or 18 mi	Sugar Land	$2229
32 km or 20 mi	Spring	$2094
33 km or 21 mi	Friendswood	$2155
35 km or 22 mi	La Porte	$2308
40 km or 25 mi	Baytown	$2376
41 km or 25 mi	League	$2110
42 km or 26 mi	Alvin	$2095
47 km or 29 mi	Rosenberg	$2209
48 km or 30 mi	The Woodlands	$2730
59 km or 37 mi	Texas City	$2067
62 km or 38 mi	Conroe	$1828
76 km or 47 mi	Galveston	$1948
81 km or 50 mi	Lake Jackson	$2129
108 km or 67 mi	Huntsville	$2020
126 km or 78 mi	Beaumont	$1592
129 km or 80 mi	College Station	$1900
138 km or 86 mi	Bryan	$1993
140 km or 87 mi	Port Arthur	$1881
186 km or 115 mi	Lufkin	$1883
188 km or 117 mi	Victoria	$2220
203 km or 126 mi	Sulphur	$2029
215 km or 134 mi	Lake Charles	$1975
217 km or 135 mi	Nacogdoches	$1493
229 km or 142 mi	Pflugerville	$2196
234 km or 145 mi	Austin	$2416
236 km or 146 mi	Round Rock	$2148
239 km or 149 mi	Temple	$2136
242 km or 150 mi	Kyle	$2222
242 km or 150 mi	Georgetown	$2188
247 km or 153 mi	San Marcos	$2215
249 km or 155 mi	Cedar Park	$2221
250 km or 156 mi	Seguin	$2210
254 km or 158 mi	Leander	$2241
261 km or 162 mi	Waco	$2279
262 km or 163 mi	Harker Heights	$2075
264 km or 164 mi	New Braunfels	$2233

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