Manchester vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Manchester	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2348	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5497	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$1452	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$2508	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$573	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$170	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3236	$1068
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	90	99
😀 Quality of life	92	76
🏙️ Population	548K	24.9M

The cost of living in Manchester is 105% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1193rd and 4880th ($2348 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 30th and 5th in the United Kingdom and China, respectively. Check the United Kingdom vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Manchester compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. Manchester ranked 12th best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 84th and 1178th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/manchester/shanghai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Manchester vs Shanghai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/manchester/shanghai" target="_blank">Manchester vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Manchester vs Shanghai

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

	Manchester	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$20.3	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$93.4	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.7	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.78	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$4.69	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.59	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1619	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1133	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2982	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1988	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$180	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$280	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.2	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.17%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4975	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4650	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.66	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$107	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$22	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.93	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.5	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.85	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.58	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.86	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.5	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.18	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.09	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.53	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.01	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.79	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.5	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.5	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$23.2	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.01	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.14	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.06	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.3	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$90.9	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.4	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$90.2	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$96.3	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1414	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$20557	$27610

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Manchester

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.3 km or 2.7 mi	Salford	$2043
5.3 km or 3.3 mi	Droylsden	$1975
5.5 km or 3.4 mi	Stretford	$2025
7.5 km or 4.7 mi	Sale	$1993
9.1 km or 5.7 mi	Ashton-under-Lyne	$1862
12 km or 7.2 mi	Oldham	$1689
12 km or 7.6 mi	Altrincham	$1945
15 km or 9.1 mi	Bury	$1784
17 km or 11 mi	Rochdale	$1838
19 km or 12 mi	Bolton	$1987
24 km or 15 mi	Macclesfield	$1880
26 km or 16 mi	Warrington	$2022
28 km or 17 mi	Wigan	$1742
34 km or 21 mi	Chorley	$1832
34 km or 21 mi	St Helens	$1682
35 km or 22 mi	Widnes	$1885
35 km or 22 mi	Blackburn	$1781
35 km or 22 mi	Runcorn	$1890
36 km or 22 mi	Burnley	$1501
36 km or 22 mi	Huddersfield	$1833
38 km or 23 mi	Halifax	$1961
39 km or 25 mi	Brighouse	$1894
42 km or 26 mi	Leek	$1827
43 km or 27 mi	Crewe	$1694
45 km or 28 mi	Preston	$1733
46 km or 29 mi	Dewsbury	$1831
48 km or 30 mi	Bradford	$1774
49 km or 30 mi	Batley	$1847
49 km or 30 mi	Ellesmere Port	$1922
49 km or 31 mi	Keighley	$1808
50 km or 31 mi	Bootle	$1853
51 km or 31 mi	Newcastle-under-Lyme	$1535
51 km or 32 mi	Barnsley	$1559
51 km or 32 mi	Liverpool	$1942
51 km or 32 mi	Sheffield	$1948
52 km or 32 mi	Stoke-on-Trent	$1710
52 km or 33 mi	Chester	$2035
53 km or 33 mi	Bebington	$1860
53 km or 33 mi	Birkenhead	$1854
53 km or 33 mi	Crosby	$1831

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