Medan vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Medan	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$481	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1335	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$187	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$394	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$189	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$35.6	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$262	$1644
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	53	100
😀 Quality of life	44	78
🏙️ Population	2.11M	24.9M

The cost of living in Medan is 56% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 8745th and 4858th ($481 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 47th and 6th in Indonesia and China, respectively. Check Indonesia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medan compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Medan ranked 14th best city to live in Indonesia vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 6633rd and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Medan vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Medan vs Shanghai

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

	Medan	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.97	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$12.8	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.31	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.39	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$2.24	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.45	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$174	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$107	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$469	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$265	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$40.4	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$62.2	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$26.1	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.24%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1337	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$614	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.31	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$8.02	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$2.8	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.37	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.14	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.55	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.21	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.56	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.98	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.5	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.84	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.75	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.31	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.13	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.6	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.68	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.26	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.01	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.41	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.83	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.77	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$23	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.48	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.1	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.73	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.3	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$124	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10763	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$470
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$461
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$435
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$695
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$582
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$620
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$619
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$628
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$571
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$670
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$719
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$560
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$645
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$490
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$714
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$810
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$585
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$532
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$536
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$604
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$543
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$570
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$398
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$669
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$772
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$542
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$682
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$940
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$792
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$782
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$703
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$529
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501

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