Mbabane vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Mbabane	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$599	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1449	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$261	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$433	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$216	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$58.6	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$352	$931
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	27 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	16	100
😀 Quality of life	42	77
🏙️ Population	60.7K	24.9M

The cost of living in Mbabane is 47% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 7826th and 4879th ($599 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th in Eswatini and China, respectively. Check Eswatini vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Mbabane compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Mbabane ranked 1st best city to live in Eswatini vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 7530th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Mbabane vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Mbabane vs Shanghai

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

	Mbabane	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.13	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$30.6	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$2.39	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.88	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$1.98	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.96	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$240	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$169	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$443	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$302	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$48.4	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$73.9	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$28.9	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.65%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$348	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$258	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.16	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$30.4	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$26.4	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.21	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.09	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.77	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.3	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.73	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.16	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.13	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.35	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.75	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.96	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.51	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.2	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.73	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.5	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.67	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.25	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.55	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.32	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.76	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$18.9	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.34	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$46.1	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$75.3	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$110	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4704	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Mbabane

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Manzini	$469
136 km or 85 mi	Matola	$908
148 km or 92 mi	Maputo	$915
165 km or 103 mi	Vryheid	$827
171 km or 106 mi	Bethal	$838
179 km or 111 mi	Middelburg	$830
271 km or 168 mi	Springs	$740
284 km or 176 mi	Benoni	$826
287 km or 178 mi	Xai-Xai	$915
301 km or 187 mi	Centurion	$892
304 km or 189 mi	Pretoria	$975
311 km or 193 mi	Sandton	$984
311 km or 193 mi	Johannesburg	$1082
316 km or 196 mi	Randburg	$890
324 km or 201 mi	Vereeniging	$706
329 km or 204 mi	Soweto	$984
334 km or 207 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$799
348 km or 216 mi	Brits	$875
370 km or 230 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$705
394 km or 245 mi	Durban	$892
398 km or 247 mi	Butha-Buthe	$570
399 km or 248 mi	Rustenburg	$940
406 km or 252 mi	Potchefstroom	$731
416 km or 259 mi	Kroonstad	$808
451 km or 280 mi	Klerksdorp	$762
461 km or 287 mi	Teyateyaneng	$533
477 km or 296 mi	Welkom	$762
491 km or 305 mi	Maseru	$650
546 km or 339 mi	Mafeteng	$598
555 km or 345 mi	Mmabatho	$833
559 km or 347 mi	Gaborone	$668
564 km or 350 mi	Lobatse	$637
566 km or 352 mi	Mahalapye	$577
576 km or 358 mi	Bloemfontein	$698
585 km or 363 mi	Palapye	$514
601 km or 374 mi	Kanye	$637
608 km or 378 mi	Molepolole	$607
628 km or 390 mi	Serowe	$536
628 km or 390 mi	Mthatha	$901
682 km or 424 mi	Francistown	$587

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