Malaga vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Malaga	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1617	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3763	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$929	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$1604	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$467	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$93.9	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1700	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	24	100
😀 Quality of life	80	77
🏙️ Population	592K	24.9M

The cost of living in Malaga is 43% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 3451st and 4879th ($1617 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 27th and 5th in Spain and China, respectively. Check Spain vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.1 months in Malaga compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Malaga ranked 21st best city to live in Spain vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 736th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Malaga vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Malaga vs Shanghai

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

	Malaga	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.5	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$59.4	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.01	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$2.96	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.47	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1047	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$767	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1891	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1344	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.8	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$123	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$27.4	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.82%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6192	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5381	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.61	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$26.2	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.4	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.24	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.44	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.91	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.2	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.27	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.2	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.02	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.79	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.48	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.52	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.58	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.34	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.7	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.86	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.4	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.26	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$50.9	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.2	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$42.9	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.9	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$86.9	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$535	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10933	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Malaga

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Benalmadena	$1584
24 km or 15 mi	Mijas	$1511
27 km or 17 mi	Fuengirola	$1489
36 km or 22 mi	Antequera	$1301
48 km or 30 mi	Marbella	$1924
55 km or 34 mi	Loja	$1461
65 km or 40 mi	Almunecar	$1101
67 km or 41 mi	Ronda	$980
71 km or 44 mi	Estepona	$1666
80 km or 50 mi	Motril	$997
89 km or 55 mi	Granada	$1334
94 km or 58 mi	Alcala la Real	$2260
104 km or 64 mi	La Linea de la Concepcion	$1268
105 km or 65 mi	Gibraltar City	$2429
109 km or 68 mi	Ecija	$1344
113 km or 70 mi	Los Barrios	$1157
114 km or 71 mi	Algeciras	$987
119 km or 74 mi	Martos	$1382
122 km or 76 mi	Ceuta	$1312
124 km or 77 mi	Arcos de la Frontera	$1274
125 km or 78 mi	Adra	$1187
130 km or 81 mi	Jaen	$1133
132 km or 82 mi	Tarifa	$1287
133 km or 83 mi	Cordoba	$1233
137 km or 85 mi	Carmona	$1344
143 km or 89 mi	El Ejido	$1123
148 km or 92 mi	Dos Hermanas	$1359
152 km or 94 mi	Jerez de la Frontera	$989
154 km or 96 mi	Tetouan	$565
158 km or 98 mi	Seville	$1393
158 km or 98 mi	Chiclana de la Frontera	$1166
162 km or 101 mi	Tangier	$863
169 km or 105 mi	Linares	$1369
169 km or 105 mi	Cadiz	$1501
171 km or 106 mi	Ubeda	$1490
174 km or 108 mi	Rota	$1500
176 km or 109 mi	Almeria	$1298
196 km or 122 mi	Almonte	$1316
207 km or 129 mi	Melilla	$931
218 km or 135 mi	Nador	$536

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