Kabul vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Kabul	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$474	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1052	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$203	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$302	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$158	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$81.8	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$218	$1644
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	30	100
😀 Quality of life	14	78
🏙️ Population	4.27M	24.9M

The cost of living in Kabul is 57% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 8769th and 4858th ($474 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 6th in Afghanistan and China, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Kabul compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 9071st and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Kabul vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Kabul vs Shanghai

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

	Kabul	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.38	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$9.34	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.64	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.11	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$1.53	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.32	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$140	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$90	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$312	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$141	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$43.2	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$66.8	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$59.8	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	18.54%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$404	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$202	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.2	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$18.8	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.27	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.88	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.27	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.39	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.36	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.8	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.88	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.71	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.77	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.77	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.55	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.39	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.41	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.2	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.88	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.12	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.49	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.38	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.97	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.48	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.01	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.37	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$12.8	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.15	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$13.2	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.79	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$16.1	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.4	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$17.2	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1356	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Kabul

Distance	City	Cost of living
105 km or 65 mi	Gardez	$386
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$303
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$389
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$366
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$381
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$346
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$379
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$394
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$366
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$364
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$408
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$382
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$442
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$596
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$401
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$414
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$458
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$593
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$605
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$354
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$355
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$468
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$292
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$389
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$273
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$342
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$380
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$306
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$373
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$354
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$266
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$392
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$305
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$308
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$361
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$281
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$374
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$321
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$476

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