Indianapolis vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Indianapolis	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2189	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5318	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$1304	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$2170	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$615	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$123	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4608	$1644
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	71	100
😀 Quality of life	89	78
🏙️ Population	888K	24.9M

The cost of living in Indianapolis is 100% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1378th and 4858th ($2189 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1239th and 6th 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 2.1 months in Indianapolis compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Indianapolis ranked 44th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 191st and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Indianapolis vs Shanghai infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/indianapolis/shanghai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Indianapolis vs Shanghai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/indianapolis/shanghai" target="_blank">Indianapolis vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Indianapolis vs Shanghai

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

	Indianapolis	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$25.1	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68.1	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.98	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.05	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$4.95	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.7	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1424	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1026	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2421	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1776	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$127	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$194	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$70.6	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.64%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1949	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1579	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.74	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$59.6	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.6	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.9	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.96	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.97	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.09	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.8	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.36	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.9	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.16	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.3	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.35	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.69	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.73	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.75	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.25	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.52	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.45	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.24	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$38	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.4	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$110	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.3	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$49.3	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.9	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1868	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$27149	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Indianapolis

Distance	City	Cost of living
17 km or 11 mi	Lawrence	$2023
18 km or 11 mi	Greenwood	$2010
22 km or 14 mi	Plainfield	$1953
22 km or 14 mi	Brownsburg	$1751
23 km or 14 mi	Carmel	$1981
24 km or 15 mi	Fishers	$1974
29 km or 18 mi	Westfield	$1951
32 km or 20 mi	Franklin	$2001
33 km or 21 mi	Greenfield	$1880
33 km or 21 mi	Noblesville	$1944
55 km or 34 mi	Anderson	$1806
65 km or 41 mi	Columbus	$1875
75 km or 46 mi	Bloomington	$2147
79 km or 49 mi	Kokomo	$1736
81 km or 50 mi	Muncie	$1613
95 km or 59 mi	Lafayette	$2007
96 km or 60 mi	Marion	$1870
99 km or 61 mi	West Lafayette	$2004
108 km or 67 mi	Richmond	$1872
111 km or 69 mi	Terre Haute	$1561
124 km or 77 mi	Oxford	$1839
132 km or 82 mi	Danville	$1875
143 km or 89 mi	Hamilton	$1895
147 km or 91 mi	Fairfield	$1914
155 km or 97 mi	Middletown	$1427
156 km or 97 mi	Florence	$1940
159 km or 99 mi	Cincinnati	$1925
160 km or 99 mi	Trotwood	$1870
162 km or 101 mi	Covington	$2490
165 km or 102 mi	Mason	$1853
165 km or 103 mi	Clarksville	$1863
166 km or 103 mi	Independence	$2145
166 km or 103 mi	New Albany	$1903
167 km or 104 mi	Dayton	$1783
168 km or 104 mi	Jeffersonville	$1731
168 km or 104 mi	Piqua	$1914
169 km or 105 mi	Troy	$1897
169 km or 105 mi	Fort Wayne	$1939
171 km or 106 mi	Lebanon	$1834
172 km or 107 mi	Kettering	$1890

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$984
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$665
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$700
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$868
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$573
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$631
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$645
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$602
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$640
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$670
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$670
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$657
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$590
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$708
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$643
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$716
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$695
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$702
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$644
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$805
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$643
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$654
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$603
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$650
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$607
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$644
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$665
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$522
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$620
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$621
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$642
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$677
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$665
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$592
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$672
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$621
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$746