Kabul vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Kabul	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$599	$1136
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1271	$3654
🏠 One person rent	$285	$602
🏘️ Family rent	$403	$1527
🍽️ Food expenses	$182	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$96.7	$116
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$188	$1905
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	29	100
😀 Quality of life	13	79
🏙️ Population	4.27M	24.9M

The cost of living in Kabul is 47% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 7801st and 4780th ($599 vs $1136) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Afghanistan and China, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Kabul compared to 1.7 months in Shanghai. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 9123rd and 571st 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	$2.69	$3.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$8.83	$42.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.92	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.75	$1.43
☕ Cappuccino	$1.82	$3.61
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.38	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$168	$897
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$123	$461
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$381	$2549
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$182	$1181
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.5	$36.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$82.3	$56.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$99.3	$16.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	21.36%	4.28%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$451	$16156
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$274	$8893
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.36	$0.57
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$19.2	$36.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.29	$6.13
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.99	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.88	$2.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.32	$1.99
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1.41
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.5	$2.11
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.73	$15.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.07	$3.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.69	$11.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.74	$2.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$2.05
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.59	$1.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.36	$0.98
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.32	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.24	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.98	$1.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.62	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.56	$3.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.24	$6.62
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.81	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.09	$1.72
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.47	$2.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$13.3	$55
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.34	$8.47
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$13.1	$90.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.99	$11.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$13.6	$58.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$46.1	$78.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$23.8	$1263
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1452	$31401

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	$469
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$358
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$476
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$441
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$457
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$338
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$374
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$467
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$372
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$354
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$470
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$323
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$439
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$659
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$376
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$450
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$456
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$655
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$672
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$328
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$341
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$521
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$292
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$373
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$277
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$344
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$380
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$319
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$330
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$273
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$388
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$285
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$371
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$312
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$280
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$358
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$335
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$376
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$308
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$487

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1028
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$706
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$749
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$738
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$585
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$661
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$718
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$620
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$676
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$706
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$685
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$612
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$733
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$674
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$742
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$702
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$729
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$674
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$843
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$676
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$690
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$629
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$698
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$630
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$673
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$698
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$650
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$651
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$703
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$708
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$699
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$702
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$771
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$648
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$774