Los Angeles vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Los Angeles	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3420	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7800	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$2177	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$3742	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$761	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$263	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4482	$1068
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	17 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	99	99
😀 Quality of life	93	76
🏙️ Population	3.9M	24.9M

The cost of living in Los Angeles is 198% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 62nd and 4880th ($3420 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 47th 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 0.9 months in Shanghai. Los Angeles ranked 8th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 50th and 1178th 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	$22.4	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$104	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14.1	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.92	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$6.66	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.53	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2356	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1856	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4109	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3268	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$152	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$236	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$69.2	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.28%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8186	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7185	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.76	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$95.5	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.5	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.37	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.32	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.33	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.26	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.59	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.1	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.4	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.08	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.3	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.19	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.89	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.91	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.67	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.57	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.3	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.99	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.9	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.24	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.99	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.99	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.92	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$70.1	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$18.2	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$164	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$29.5	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$80.1	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1748	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$23685	$27610

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	$2945
8.9 km or 5.5 mi	Maywood	$2888
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Florence-Graham	$2945
10 km or 6.2 mi	Bell	$2868
10 km or 6.2 mi	Monterey Park	$2786
11 km or 6.6 mi	Alhambra	$3031
11 km or 6.6 mi	South Pasadena	$3020
11 km or 7 mi	Cudahy	$2866
12 km or 7.6 mi	San Gabriel	$3184
12 km or 7.7 mi	Bell Gardens	$2798
12 km or 7.8 mi	West Hollywood	$3055
13 km or 7.8 mi	Montebello	$2826
13 km or 8 mi	South Gate	$2867
13 km or 8.2 mi	Glendale	$3717
14 km or 8.8 mi	Inglewood	$3066
15 km or 9 mi	Beverly Hills	$2945
15 km or 9.1 mi	Lynwood	$2880
15 km or 9.3 mi	Rosemead	$2868
15 km or 9.5 mi	Culver	$3054
15 km or 9.6 mi	Pasadena	$3802
16 km or 9.9 mi	Pico Rivera	$2818
16 km or 10 mi	Burbank	$3369
16 km or 10 mi	Downey	$2766
17 km or 11 mi	Compton	$2922
18 km or 11 mi	La Canada Flintridge	$3179
18 km or 11 mi	Hawthorne	$3139
18 km or 11 mi	Temple	$2909
18 km or 11 mi	South El Monte	$2849
18 km or 11 mi	West Whittier-Los Nietos	$2826
18 km or 11 mi	Paramount	$2793
19 km or 12 mi	Gardena	$3076
20 km or 12 mi	El Monte	$2858
21 km or 13 mi	Lawndale	$3243
21 km or 13 mi	Arcadia	$3020
21 km or 13 mi	Bellflower	$2758
22 km or 14 mi	Norwalk	$2694
22 km or 14 mi	Santa Monica	$3654
22 km or 14 mi	Whittier	$2835
23 km or 15 mi	Manhattan Beach	$3295
24 km or 15 mi	Carson	$3000

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1030
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$708
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$726
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$725
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$798
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$643
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$678
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$581
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$652
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$680
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$658
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$571
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$660
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$645
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$670
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$663
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$636
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$659
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$899
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$651
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$664
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$657
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$627
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$667
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$623
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$693
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$691
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$623
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$644
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$661
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$696
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$693
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$620
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$677
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$684
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$644
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$789