Los Angeles vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Los Angeles	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3378	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7707	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$2168	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$3725	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$743	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$257	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4258	$879
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	17 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	99	99
😀 Quality of life	93	75
🏙️ Population	3.9M	24.9M

The cost of living in Los Angeles is 200% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 72nd and 4971st ($3378 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 52nd 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 1.3 months in Los Angeles compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Los Angeles ranked 8th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 55th and 1655th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Los Angeles vs Shanghai

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

	Los Angeles	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.9	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$91	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$13.3	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.85	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$6.48	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.25	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2352	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1867	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4129	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3274	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$139	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$214	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.8	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.86%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7811	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7110	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.99	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$94	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.9	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.24	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.31	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.27	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.35	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$7.67	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.6	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.26	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.75	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.63	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.81	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.78	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.45	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.8	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.39	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.2	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.27	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.78	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.45	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.81	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$77.1	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$18.2	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$144	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$32.3	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$70.2	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1715	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$28004	$27781

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Los Angeles

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Huntington Park	$2879
8.9 km or 5.5 mi	Maywood	$2850
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Florence-Graham	$2917
10 km or 6.2 mi	Bell	$2847
10 km or 6.2 mi	Monterey Park	$2749
11 km or 6.6 mi	Alhambra	$2976
11 km or 6.6 mi	South Pasadena	$2993
11 km or 7 mi	Cudahy	$2810
12 km or 7.6 mi	San Gabriel	$3159
12 km or 7.7 mi	Bell Gardens	$2775
12 km or 7.8 mi	West Hollywood	$3086
13 km or 7.8 mi	Montebello	$2769
13 km or 8 mi	South Gate	$2820
13 km or 8.2 mi	Glendale	$3695
14 km or 8.8 mi	Inglewood	$3020
15 km or 9 mi	Beverly Hills	$2912
15 km or 9.1 mi	Lynwood	$2835
15 km or 9.3 mi	Rosemead	$2850
15 km or 9.5 mi	Culver	$3020
15 km or 9.6 mi	Pasadena	$3768
16 km or 9.9 mi	Pico Rivera	$2796
16 km or 10 mi	Burbank	$3328
16 km or 10 mi	Downey	$2698
17 km or 11 mi	Compton	$2880
18 km or 11 mi	La Canada Flintridge	$3157
18 km or 11 mi	Hawthorne	$3057
18 km or 11 mi	Temple	$2894
18 km or 11 mi	South El Monte	$2842
18 km or 11 mi	West Whittier-Los Nietos	$2789
18 km or 11 mi	Paramount	$2770
19 km or 12 mi	Gardena	$3051
20 km or 12 mi	El Monte	$2847
21 km or 13 mi	Lawndale	$3193
21 km or 13 mi	Arcadia	$3019
21 km or 13 mi	Bellflower	$2702
22 km or 14 mi	Norwalk	$2688
22 km or 14 mi	Santa Monica	$3588
22 km or 14 mi	Whittier	$2815
23 km or 15 mi	Manhattan Beach	$3262
24 km or 15 mi	Carson	$2974

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1002
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$669
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$782
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$594
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$620
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$644
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$557
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$667
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$683
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$643
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$650
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$584
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$671
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$636
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$680
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$684
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$623
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$646
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$860
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$647
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$652
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$611
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$652
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$604
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$675
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$678
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$525
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$618
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$626
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$644
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$667
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$677
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$601
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$665
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$632
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$765