Medellin vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Medellin	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$873	$1136
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2221	$3654
🏠 One person rent	$395	$602
🏘️ Family rent	$782	$1527
🍽️ Food expenses	$264	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$130	$116
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$417	$1905
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	67	100
😀 Quality of life	53	79
🏙️ Population	2.53M	24.9M

The cost of living in Medellin is 23% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 6207th and 4780th ($873 vs $1136) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 6th in Colombia and China, respectively. Check Colombia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Medellin compared to 1.7 months in Shanghai. Medellin ranked 2nd best city to live in Colombia vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 6039th and 571st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Medellin vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Medellin vs Shanghai

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

	Medellin	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.77	$3.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24	$42.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.82	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.83	$1.43
☕ Cappuccino	$1.96	$3.61
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.98	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$436	$897
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$300	$461
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$864	$2549
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$646	$1181
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$45.7	$36.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$70.3	$56.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$21.7	$16.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	15.54%	4.28%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1473	$16156
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1403	$8893
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.72	$0.57
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$43	$36.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$12.7	$6.13
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.98	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$2.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.28	$1.99
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.41
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.21	$2.11
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.4	$15.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.4	$3.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$11.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$2.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.92	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$2.05
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$0.98
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.14	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.59	$1.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.7	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.05	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.18	$3.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.27	$6.62
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.2	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.89	$1.72
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.22	$2.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$27	$55
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.13	$8.47
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.3	$90.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.07	$11.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.2	$58.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.7	$78.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$239	$1263
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6129	$31401

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Medellin

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Envigado	$871
9.9 km or 6.1 mi	Bello	$789
131 km or 82 mi	Manizales	$653
135 km or 84 mi	Quibdo	$661
160 km or 99 mi	Pereira	$641
171 km or 106 mi	Cartago	$619
179 km or 111 mi	Salento	$562
190 km or 118 mi	Armenia	$541
205 km or 127 mi	Ibague	$501
209 km or 130 mi	Facatativa	$641
212 km or 131 mi	Barrancabermeja	$573
221 km or 137 mi	Zipaquira	$681
232 km or 144 mi	Girardot	$483
239 km or 148 mi	Soacha	$748
242 km or 150 mi	Turbo	$634
246 km or 153 mi	Bogota	$868
250 km or 155 mi	Tulua	$477
257 km or 160 mi	Tunja	$526
282 km or 175 mi	Monteria	$620
285 km or 177 mi	Duitama	$851
288 km or 179 mi	Bucaramanga	$642
289 km or 179 mi	Floridablanca	$584
298 km or 185 mi	Sogamoso	$523
308 km or 192 mi	Buenaventura	$718
312 km or 194 mi	Palmira	$652
318 km or 198 mi	Villavicencio	$475
329 km or 204 mi	Cali	$733
331 km or 206 mi	Ocana	$590
334 km or 208 mi	Santa Cruz de Lorica	$638
340 km or 211 mi	Sincelejo	$506
346 km or 215 mi	Magangue	$582
367 km or 228 mi	Yopal	$687
370 km or 230 mi	Neiva	$520
386 km or 240 mi	Cucuta	$552
387 km or 241 mi	San Antonio del Tachira	$601
391 km or 243 mi	Rubio	$598
406 km or 252 mi	San Cristobal	$592
410 km or 255 mi	Tariba	$598
438 km or 272 mi	Popayan	$462
448 km or 279 mi	La Grita	$617

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1028
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$706
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$749
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$738
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$585
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$661
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$718
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$620
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$676
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$706
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$685
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$612
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$733
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$674
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$742
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$702
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$729
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$674
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$843
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$676
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$690
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$629
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$698
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$630
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$673
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$698
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$650
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$651
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$703
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$708
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$699
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$702
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$771
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$648
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$774