Male vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Male	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1320	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2817	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$818	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$1403	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$368	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$43.1	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$988	$931
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	7	100
😀 Quality of life	66	77
🏙️ Population	133K	24.9M

The cost of living in Male is 17% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 4439th and 4879th ($1320 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 5th in Maldives and China, respectively. Check Maldives vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Male compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Male ranked 1st best city to live in Maldives vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 5057th and 1383rd 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	$5.55	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$29.4	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.82	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.77	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$3.29	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.45	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$870	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$609	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1575	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1116	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$114	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$81.2	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	14%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2585	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1897	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.65	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$29.1	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.5	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.93	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.85	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.59	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.34	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.78	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.08	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.15	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.98	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.83	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.35	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.35	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.97	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.87	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.96	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.39	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.83	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.18	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.81	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$80.1	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.82	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$23.2	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.39	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$42.7	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$90.5	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$166	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3575	$27624

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	$1445
610 km or 379 mi	Thiruvananthapuram	$344
618 km or 384 mi	Varkala	$308
621 km or 386 mi	Nagercoil	$279
624 km or 388 mi	Kollam	$253
687 km or 427 mi	Tirunelveli	$270
688 km or 428 mi	Kottayam	$300
713 km or 443 mi	Kochi	$382
714 km or 444 mi	Ernakulam	$351
724 km or 450 mi	Thoothukudi	$296
761 km or 473 mi	Beruwala	$590
763 km or 474 mi	Colombo	$646
766 km or 476 mi	Thrissur	$356
771 km or 479 mi	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	$626
772 km or 479 mi	Galle	$512
777 km or 483 mi	Negombo	$469
788 km or 490 mi	Gampaha	$420
803 km or 499 mi	Matara	$479
814 km or 506 mi	Malappuram	$286
817 km or 507 mi	Madurai	$347
825 km or 513 mi	Kozhikode	$321
843 km or 524 mi	Dindigul	$310
849 km or 528 mi	Coimbatore	$326
862 km or 535 mi	Kandy	$440
879 km or 546 mi	Kannur	$317
892 km or 554 mi	Anuradhapura	$535
899 km or 559 mi	Tiruppur	$347
922 km or 573 mi	Erode	$286
935 km or 581 mi	Tiruchirappalli	$300
964 km or 599 mi	Thanjavur	$275
968 km or 602 mi	Mysore	$346
977 km or 607 mi	Salem	$295
979 km or 608 mi	Mangalore	$400
983 km or 611 mi	Trincomalee	$530
1027 km or 638 mi	Udupi	$283
1076 km or 669 mi	Bangalore	$524
1087 km or 675 mi	Cuddalore	$300
1093 km or 679 mi	Tumkur	$355
1106 km or 688 mi	Shimoga	$340
1108 km or 688 mi	Pondicherry	$327

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