Melbourne vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Melbourne	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2308	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5590	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1286	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$2187	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$561	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$315	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4060	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	100	100
😀 Quality of life	100	77
🏙️ Population	5.35M	24.9M

The cost of living in Melbourne is 105% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1249th and 4879th ($2308 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 5th in Australia and China, respectively. Check Australia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Melbourne compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Melbourne ranked 1st best city to live in Australia vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 1st and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Melbourne vs Shanghai infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

Prices in Melbourne vs Shanghai

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

	Melbourne	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$14.5	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$69.6	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.2	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.26	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$3.74	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.63	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1462	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1055	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2675	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1808	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$101	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$157	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$48.5	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.03%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7072	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5978	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.57	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$115	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.5	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.54	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.38	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.04	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.43	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.58	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.28	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.14	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.15	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.43	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.06	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.63	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.7	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.88	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$27.9	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.99	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.03	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.07	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.65	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$48.2	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.6	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.5	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.7	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$72	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1948	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22799	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Melbourne

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	South Yarra	$1681
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1697
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1673
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1736
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1768
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1738
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1728
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1706
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1674
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1725
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$2058
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1464
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1362
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$1813
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1662
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1718
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1753
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1458
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1786
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1667
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1660
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2019
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1771
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1678
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2127
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1364
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1568
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1580
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$2117
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1599
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1747
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2292
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$1888
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2640
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2181
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1839
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$1911
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1633
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1184
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1988

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