Kuala Lumpur vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Kuala Lumpur	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$810	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1984	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$393	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$711	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$278	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$64.8	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1392	$1644
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	93	100
😀 Quality of life	77	78
🏙️ Population	1.98M	24.9M

The cost of living in Kuala Lumpur is 26% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 6403rd and 4858th ($810 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Malaysia and China, respectively. Check Malaysia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Kuala Lumpur compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st best city to live in Malaysia vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 811th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Kuala Lumpur vs Shanghai infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/kuala-lumpur/shanghai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Kuala Lumpur vs Shanghai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/kuala-lumpur/shanghai" target="_blank">Kuala Lumpur vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Kuala Lumpur vs Shanghai

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

	Kuala Lumpur	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.17	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$25.4	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.54	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.64	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$2.93	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.82	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$450	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$297	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$928	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$548	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$40.3	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$61.8	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.4	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.59%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2996	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1427	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.69	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.5	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.04	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.49	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.9	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.32	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.64	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.81	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.58	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.43	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.8	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.04	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.05	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.45	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.64	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.57	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.19	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.5	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.82	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$20	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$5.65	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.9	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$77.6	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$254	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$8723	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Kuala Lumpur

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.7 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
15 km or 9.1 mi	Subang Jaya	$714
19 km or 12 mi	Shah Alam	$645
24 km or 15 mi	Putrajaya	$532
25 km or 16 mi	Cyberjaya	$585
30 km or 19 mi	Klang	$670
54 km or 33 mi	Seremban	$604
123 km or 77 mi	Malacca	$669
124 km or 77 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
155 km or 97 mi	Muar	$682
167 km or 104 mi	Dumai	$543
176 km or 109 mi	Ipoh	$628
196 km or 122 mi	Kuantan	$529
199 km or 124 mi	Batu Pahat	$703
211 km or 131 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
217 km or 135 mi	Taiping	$695
219 km or 136 mi	Kluang	$679
229 km or 142 mi	Chukai	$565
282 km or 175 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
291 km or 181 mi	Butterworth	$619
291 km or 181 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501
292 km or 181 mi	Pekanbaru	$542
293 km or 182 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
294 km or 183 mi	George Town	$620
297 km or 184 mi	Johor Bahru	$759
309 km or 192 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
311 km or 193 mi	Singapore City	$3059
315 km or 195 mi	Bukit Merah	$2788
335 km or 208 mi	Padangsidempuan	$582
338 km or 210 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
341 km or 212 mi	Medan	$481
346 km or 215 mi	Batam	$539
360 km or 224 mi	Binjai	$470
361 km or 225 mi	Alor Setar	$490
394 km or 245 mi	Tanjung Pinang	$506
402 km or 250 mi	Kangar	$536
413 km or 257 mi	Langkawi	$560
441 km or 274 mi	Langsa	$461
451 km or 280 mi	Hat Yai	$570
457 km or 284 mi	Ko Lipe	$719

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