Houston vs Shenzhen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Houston	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2265	$916
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5664	$2694
🏠 One person rent	$1305	$478
🏘️ Family rent	$2467	$1142
🍽️ Food expenses	$581	$261
🚐 Transport expenses	$212	$85.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4390	$1771
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	100	96
😀 Quality of life	91	80
🏙️ Population	2.3M	17.7M

The cost of living in Houston is 147% more expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 1229th and 5950th ($2265 vs $916) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1115th and 12th 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 1.9 months in Houston compared to 1.9 months in Shenzhen. Houston ranked 14th best city to live in the United States vs Shenzhen ranked 3rd in China, while ranked 97th and 545th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Houston vs Shenzhen infographic

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Prices in Houston vs Shenzhen

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

	Houston	Shenzhen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$17.2	$3.06
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76	$27.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.3	$5.23
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.88	$1.11
☕ Cappuccino	$5.4	$3.03
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.71	$0.46
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1390	$667
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1037	$360
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2766	$1650
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2058	$917
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$132	$43.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$202	$65.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.6	$13.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.58%	4.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2714	$12583
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1949	$6551
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.25	$0.41
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$71.7	$23.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.9	$4.51
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3	$1.89
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.4	$1.18
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.07	$1.89
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$13
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$4.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.6	$13.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.29	$1.9
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.95	$1.73
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.04	$1.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.73	$1.08
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.43	$1.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.34	$0.4
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.01	$1.05
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.6	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.15	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.62	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.29	$5.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.13	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.64	$1.63
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.46	$1.91
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.8	$48.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.5	$6.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$127	$33.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$21.6	$9.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$50.4	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$98.6	$78
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1470	$502
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$18964	$22267

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	$2182
25 km or 15 mi	Pearland	$2108
25 km or 16 mi	Missouri	$2087
27 km or 17 mi	Deer Park	$2196
29 km or 18 mi	Sugar Land	$2028
32 km or 20 mi	Spring	$2093
33 km or 21 mi	Friendswood	$2097
35 km or 22 mi	La Porte	$2232
40 km or 25 mi	Baytown	$2311
41 km or 25 mi	League	$2065
42 km or 26 mi	Alvin	$2056
47 km or 29 mi	Rosenberg	$2107
48 km or 30 mi	The Woodlands	$2698
59 km or 37 mi	Texas City	$2014
62 km or 38 mi	Conroe	$1799
76 km or 47 mi	Galveston	$1855
81 km or 50 mi	Lake Jackson	$2089
108 km or 67 mi	Huntsville	$2089
126 km or 78 mi	Beaumont	$1673
129 km or 80 mi	College Station	$1853
138 km or 86 mi	Bryan	$1944
140 km or 87 mi	Port Arthur	$1907
186 km or 115 mi	Lufkin	$1878
188 km or 117 mi	Victoria	$2215
203 km or 126 mi	Sulphur	$2037
215 km or 134 mi	Lake Charles	$1986
217 km or 135 mi	Nacogdoches	$1510
229 km or 142 mi	Pflugerville	$2218
234 km or 145 mi	Austin	$2455
236 km or 146 mi	Round Rock	$2163
239 km or 149 mi	Temple	$2134
242 km or 150 mi	Kyle	$2223
242 km or 150 mi	Georgetown	$2192
247 km or 153 mi	San Marcos	$2224
249 km or 155 mi	Cedar Park	$2244
250 km or 156 mi	Seguin	$2182
254 km or 158 mi	Leander	$2260
261 km or 162 mi	Waco	$2230
262 km or 163 mi	Harker Heights	$2044
264 km or 164 mi	New Braunfels	$2182

Cities near Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2432
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2737
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$653
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$656
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1588
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$461
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$601
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$804
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$774
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$611
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$936
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$812
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$764
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$794
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$793
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$823
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$877
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$569
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$818
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$443
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$581
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$655
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$451
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$803
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$755
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$758
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$761
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$756
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$761
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$724
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$771
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$764
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$649
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$664
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$702
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$688
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$650
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$823
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$522
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$609