Indianapolis vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Indianapolis	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2382	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5728	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1450	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$2501	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$655	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4546	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	70	100
😀 Quality of life	91	77
🏙️ Population	888K	24.9M

The cost of living in Indianapolis is 111% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1089th and 4879th ($2382 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 957th 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 1.9 months in Indianapolis compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Indianapolis ranked 54th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 186th and 1383rd 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

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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	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$74.9	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$5.78	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.9	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1547	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1154	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2724	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2077	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$143	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$221	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$74.1	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.5%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1963	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1551	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.76	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$60.1	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.7	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.84	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.82	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.18	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.7	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.7	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.9	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.84	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.14	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.31	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.51	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.79	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.9	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.74	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.94	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.33	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.02	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.29	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.93	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.3	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$101	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.8	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$51.3	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$109	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1686	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$27445	$27624

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	$2070
18 km or 11 mi	Greenwood	$1941
22 km or 14 mi	Plainfield	$1978
22 km or 14 mi	Brownsburg	$1753
23 km or 14 mi	Carmel	$2035
24 km or 15 mi	Fishers	$2017
29 km or 18 mi	Westfield	$1984
32 km or 20 mi	Franklin	$1969
33 km or 21 mi	Greenfield	$1847
33 km or 21 mi	Noblesville	$1971
55 km or 34 mi	Anderson	$1848
65 km or 41 mi	Columbus	$1769
75 km or 46 mi	Bloomington	$2097
79 km or 49 mi	Kokomo	$1731
81 km or 50 mi	Muncie	$1484
95 km or 59 mi	Lafayette	$2031
96 km or 60 mi	Marion	$1851
99 km or 61 mi	West Lafayette	$1919
108 km or 67 mi	Richmond	$1857
111 km or 69 mi	Terre Haute	$1559
124 km or 77 mi	Oxford	$1915
132 km or 82 mi	Danville	$1905
143 km or 89 mi	Hamilton	$1993
147 km or 91 mi	Fairfield	$1990
155 km or 97 mi	Middletown	$1495
156 km or 97 mi	Florence	$1922
159 km or 99 mi	Cincinnati	$2025
160 km or 99 mi	Trotwood	$1957
162 km or 101 mi	Covington	$2480
165 km or 102 mi	Mason	$1899
165 km or 103 mi	Clarksville	$1845
166 km or 103 mi	Independence	$2140
166 km or 103 mi	New Albany	$1925
167 km or 104 mi	Dayton	$1917
168 km or 104 mi	Jeffersonville	$1738
168 km or 104 mi	Piqua	$1980
169 km or 105 mi	Troy	$1965
169 km or 105 mi	Fort Wayne	$1862
171 km or 106 mi	Lebanon	$1850
172 km or 107 mi	Kettering	$1961

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