Los Angeles vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Los Angeles	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3196	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7594	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$2049	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$3732	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$709	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$220	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4771	$1644
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	17 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	99	100
😀 Quality of life	93	78
🏙️ Population	3.9M	24.9M

The cost of living in Los Angeles is 191% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 80th and 4858th ($3196 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 71st and 6th 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 1.5 months in Los Angeles compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Los Angeles ranked 7th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 58th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Los Angeles vs Shanghai infographic

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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	$21.7	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$87.7	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.9	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.51	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$5.77	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.7	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2168	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1758	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4056	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3293	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$142	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$220	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$66.8	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.74%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8056	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7115	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.01	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$73.5	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.8	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.29	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.1	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.56	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.05	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.5	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.5	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.12	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.43	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.31	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.63	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.56	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.26	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.4	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.92	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$11.7	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.25	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.63	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$49.3	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$18.1	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$190	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$27.8	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.3	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1650	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$28838	$30174

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	$2887
8.9 km or 5.5 mi	Maywood	$2803
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Florence-Graham	$2873
10 km or 6.2 mi	Bell	$2798
10 km or 6.2 mi	Monterey Park	$2735
11 km or 6.6 mi	Alhambra	$2936
11 km or 6.6 mi	South Pasadena	$2902
11 km or 7 mi	Cudahy	$2768
12 km or 7.6 mi	San Gabriel	$3061
12 km or 7.7 mi	Bell Gardens	$2727
12 km or 7.8 mi	West Hollywood	$3105
13 km or 7.8 mi	Montebello	$2739
13 km or 8 mi	South Gate	$2786
13 km or 8.2 mi	Glendale	$3659
14 km or 8.8 mi	Inglewood	$3014
15 km or 9 mi	Beverly Hills	$2903
15 km or 9.1 mi	Lynwood	$2788
15 km or 9.3 mi	Rosemead	$2780
15 km or 9.5 mi	Culver	$3033
15 km or 9.6 mi	Pasadena	$3416
16 km or 9.9 mi	Pico Rivera	$2750
16 km or 10 mi	Burbank	$3370
16 km or 10 mi	Downey	$2735
17 km or 11 mi	Compton	$2851
18 km or 11 mi	La Canada Flintridge	$3086
18 km or 11 mi	Hawthorne	$3104
18 km or 11 mi	Temple	$2824
18 km or 11 mi	South El Monte	$2787
18 km or 11 mi	West Whittier-Los Nietos	$2750
18 km or 11 mi	Paramount	$2720
19 km or 12 mi	Gardena	$3022
20 km or 12 mi	El Monte	$2775
21 km or 13 mi	Lawndale	$3162
21 km or 13 mi	Arcadia	$2758
21 km or 13 mi	Bellflower	$2669
22 km or 14 mi	Norwalk	$2662
22 km or 14 mi	Santa Monica	$3573
22 km or 14 mi	Whittier	$2789
23 km or 15 mi	Manhattan Beach	$3256
24 km or 15 mi	Carson	$2919

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