Kabul vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Kabul	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$458	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1016	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$195	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$267	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$153	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$76.9	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$104	$931
😷 Air quality	Unhealthy	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	30	100
😀 Quality of life	33	77
🏙️ Population	4.27M	24.9M

The cost of living in Kabul is 59% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 8842nd and 4879th ($458 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 5th in Afghanistan and China, respectively. Check Afghanistan vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Kabul compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Kabul ranked 1st best city to live in Afghanistan vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 8609th and 1383rd 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	$2.45	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.2	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.48	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.4	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$1.19	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.36	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$93.7	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$62.8	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$172	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$111	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$30.9	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.1	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$95.2	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.06%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$505	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$260	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.22	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.6	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.78	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.8	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.22	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.47	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.13	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.46	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.45	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.43	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.24	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.98	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$1.81	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.75	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.72	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.3	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.88	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.12	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.52	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$10.2	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$2.23	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.4	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.1	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$18	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$34.6	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$19.7	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$1486	$27624

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	$401
119 km or 74 mi	Jalalabad	$354
129 km or 80 mi	Ghazni	$396
150 km or 93 mi	Khost	$393
163 km or 101 mi	Puli Khumri	$404
223 km or 138 mi	Peshawar	$334
235 km or 146 mi	Kohat	$364
246 km or 153 mi	Kunduz	$428
266 km or 166 mi	Mardan	$354
293 km or 182 mi	Mingora	$351
304 km or 189 mi	Mazar-i-Sharif	$470
336 km or 209 mi	Wah	$344
368 km or 229 mi	Islamabad	$443
369 km or 229 mi	Qurghonteppa	$684
374 km or 232 mi	Rawalpindi	$416
389 km or 242 mi	Sheberghan	$432
425 km or 264 mi	Sargodha	$376
450 km or 280 mi	Tursunzoda	$680
451 km or 280 mi	Dushanbe	$712
451 km or 280 mi	Mirpur	$277
456 km or 284 mi	Mandi Bahauddin	$326
458 km or 285 mi	Kandahar	$436
467 km or 290 mi	Jhang	$294
474 km or 294 mi	Chiniot	$372
476 km or 296 mi	Baramulla	$265
499 km or 310 mi	Gojra	$351
501 km or 312 mi	Hafizabad	$363
503 km or 313 mi	Faisalabad	$333
505 km or 314 mi	Gujrat	$320
517 km or 321 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$254
520 km or 323 mi	Srinagar	$340
523 km or 325 mi	Quetta	$291
526 km or 327 mi	Multan	$403
534 km or 332 mi	Sahiwal	$303
536 km or 333 mi	Gujranwala	$302
538 km or 334 mi	Khanewal	$362
546 km or 340 mi	Sialkot	$311
549 km or 341 mi	Sheikhupura	$368
550 km or 342 mi	Kamoke	$316
553 km or 344 mi	Lashkargah	$439

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