Male vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Male	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1304	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3010	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$814	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$1624	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$358	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$42	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1263	$1644
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	7	100
😀 Quality of life	62	78
🏙️ Population	133K	24.9M

The cost of living in Male is 19% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 4205th and 4858th ($1304 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 6th in Maldives and China, respectively. Check Maldives vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1 months in Male compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Male ranked 1st best city to live in Maldives vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 4917th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Male vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Male vs Shanghai

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

	Male	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.5	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$27.5	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.82	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.57	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$3.15	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.21	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$824	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$636	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1648	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1401	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$63.2	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$96.6	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$77.4	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.65%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2651	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2231	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.55	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$25.8	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.7	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.93	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.93	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.67	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.81	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.95	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.82	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.7	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.91	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.8	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.73	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.43	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.54	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.36	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.97	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.79	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.71	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.83	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.32	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.74	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.13	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.8	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$73.9	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.87	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$22	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.33	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$51.8	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$90.1	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$163	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3201	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Male

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.4 km or 3.4 mi	Hulhumale	$1651
610 km or 379 mi	Thiruvananthapuram	$333
618 km or 384 mi	Varkala	$287
621 km or 386 mi	Nagercoil	$275
624 km or 388 mi	Kollam	$244
687 km or 427 mi	Tirunelveli	$273
688 km or 428 mi	Kottayam	$306
713 km or 443 mi	Kochi	$383
714 km or 444 mi	Ernakulam	$346
724 km or 450 mi	Thoothukudi	$296
761 km or 473 mi	Beruwala	$580
763 km or 474 mi	Colombo	$631
766 km or 476 mi	Thrissur	$294
771 km or 479 mi	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	$627
772 km or 479 mi	Galle	$498
777 km or 483 mi	Negombo	$467
788 km or 490 mi	Gampaha	$429
803 km or 499 mi	Matara	$502
814 km or 506 mi	Malappuram	$306
817 km or 507 mi	Madurai	$310
825 km or 513 mi	Kozhikode	$325
843 km or 524 mi	Dindigul	$316
849 km or 528 mi	Coimbatore	$339
862 km or 535 mi	Kandy	$425
879 km or 546 mi	Kannur	$344
892 km or 554 mi	Anuradhapura	$582
899 km or 559 mi	Tiruppur	$300
922 km or 573 mi	Erode	$295
935 km or 581 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$314
964 km or 599 mi	Thanjavur	$302
968 km or 602 mi	Mysore	$311
977 km or 607 mi	Salem	$304
979 km or 608 mi	Mangalore	$412
983 km or 611 mi	Trincomalee	$546
1027 km or 638 mi	Udupi	$280
1076 km or 669 mi	Bangalore	$533
1087 km or 675 mi	Cuddalore	$306
1093 km or 679 mi	Tumkur	$351
1106 km or 688 mi	Shimoga	$342
1108 km or 688 mi	Pondicherry	$360

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