Indianapolis vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Indianapolis	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2405	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5527	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$1478	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$2331	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$647	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4390	$1068
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	70	99
😀 Quality of life	89	76
🏙️ Population	888K	24.9M

The cost of living in Indianapolis is 110% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1079th and 4880th ($2405 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 928th 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 1.8 months in Indianapolis compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. Indianapolis ranked 63rd best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 237th and 1178th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

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	$20.1	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$74.1	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.5	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.99	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$5.76	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.22	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1535	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1207	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2597	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1915	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$141	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$216	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$63.9	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.15%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2599	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1872	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.74	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$60.4	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.7	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.89	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.84	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.07	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.75	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.89	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.5	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.5	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.9	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.22	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.86	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.26	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.88	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.65	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.77	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.5	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.3	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.27	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.27	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.93	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.2	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.9	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$102	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.7	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$57	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1743	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24177	$27610

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	$2088
18 km or 11 mi	Greenwood	$1968
22 km or 14 mi	Plainfield	$2060
22 km or 14 mi	Brownsburg	$1919
23 km or 14 mi	Carmel	$2065
24 km or 15 mi	Fishers	$2035
29 km or 18 mi	Westfield	$2018
32 km or 20 mi	Franklin	$2045
33 km or 21 mi	Greenfield	$1860
33 km or 21 mi	Noblesville	$1974
55 km or 34 mi	Anderson	$1706
65 km or 41 mi	Columbus	$1813
75 km or 46 mi	Bloomington	$2100
79 km or 49 mi	Kokomo	$1722
81 km or 50 mi	Muncie	$1508
95 km or 59 mi	Lafayette	$2006
96 km or 60 mi	Marion	$1868
99 km or 61 mi	West Lafayette	$1913
108 km or 67 mi	Richmond	$1877
111 km or 69 mi	Terre Haute	$1575
124 km or 77 mi	Oxford	$1913
132 km or 82 mi	Danville	$1967
143 km or 89 mi	Hamilton	$1984
147 km or 91 mi	Fairfield	$2002
155 km or 97 mi	Middletown	$1617
156 km or 97 mi	Florence	$1942
159 km or 99 mi	Cincinnati	$2051
160 km or 99 mi	Trotwood	$1933
162 km or 101 mi	Covington	$2392
165 km or 102 mi	Mason	$1900
165 km or 103 mi	Clarksville	$1827
166 km or 103 mi	Independence	$2126
166 km or 103 mi	New Albany	$1897
167 km or 104 mi	Dayton	$1898
168 km or 104 mi	Jeffersonville	$1746
168 km or 104 mi	Piqua	$1836
169 km or 105 mi	Troy	$1855
169 km or 105 mi	Fort Wayne	$1894
171 km or 106 mi	Lebanon	$1843
172 km or 107 mi	Kettering	$1908

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