Manchester vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Manchester	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2265	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5312	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1378	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$2219	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$544	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$192	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3266	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	91	100
😀 Quality of life	93	77
🏙️ Population	548K	24.9M

The cost of living in Manchester is 101% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1330th and 4879th ($2265 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 39th 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 0.8 months in Shanghai. Manchester ranked 10th best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 107th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Manchester vs Shanghai infographic

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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	$17.3	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$81.5	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.5	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.26	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$4.82	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.57	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1608	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1050	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2460	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1770	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$177	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$271	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.4	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.06%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5680	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3963	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.66	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$120	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$26.8	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.96	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.51	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.56	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.06	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.3	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.11	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.2	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.98	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.62	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.81	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.02	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.62	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.7	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.42	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$17.7	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.91	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.75	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.48	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.92	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.6	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.8	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$89.9	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$96.1	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.7	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1945	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$20873	$27624

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	$2034
5.3 km or 3.3 mi	Droylsden	$1921
5.5 km or 3.4 mi	Stretford	$2001
7.5 km or 4.7 mi	Sale	$1968
9.1 km or 5.7 mi	Ashton-under-Lyne	$1803
12 km or 7.2 mi	Oldham	$1698
12 km or 7.6 mi	Altrincham	$1918
15 km or 9.1 mi	Bury	$1759
17 km or 11 mi	Rochdale	$1788
19 km or 12 mi	Bolton	$2040
24 km or 15 mi	Macclesfield	$1835
26 km or 16 mi	Warrington	$2011
28 km or 17 mi	Wigan	$1723
34 km or 21 mi	Chorley	$1828
34 km or 21 mi	St Helens	$1680
35 km or 22 mi	Widnes	$1873
35 km or 22 mi	Blackburn	$1866
35 km or 22 mi	Runcorn	$1883
36 km or 22 mi	Burnley	$1513
36 km or 22 mi	Huddersfield	$1834
38 km or 23 mi	Halifax	$1968
39 km or 25 mi	Brighouse	$1887
42 km or 26 mi	Leek	$1783
43 km or 27 mi	Crewe	$1578
45 km or 28 mi	Preston	$1652
46 km or 29 mi	Dewsbury	$1822
48 km or 30 mi	Bradford	$1746
49 km or 30 mi	Batley	$1833
49 km or 30 mi	Ellesmere Port	$1897
49 km or 31 mi	Keighley	$1850
50 km or 31 mi	Bootle	$1832
51 km or 31 mi	Newcastle-under-Lyme	$1484
51 km or 32 mi	Barnsley	$1507
51 km or 32 mi	Liverpool	$1937
51 km or 32 mi	Sheffield	$1890
52 km or 32 mi	Stoke-on-Trent	$1633
52 km or 33 mi	Chester	$2023
53 km or 33 mi	Bebington	$1834
53 km or 33 mi	Birkenhead	$1831
53 km or 33 mi	Crosby	$1804

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