Melbourne vs Suzhou - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Melbourne	Suzhou
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2194	$868
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5150	$2829
🏠 One person rent	$1216	$312
🏘️ Family rent	$1971	$768
🍽️ Food expenses	$541	$326
🚐 Transport expenses	$296	$111
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3902	$1146
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	19 km
🎓 Higher education	100	70
😀 Quality of life	100	68
🏙️ Population	5.03M	12.7M

The cost of living in Melbourne is 153% more expensive than in Suzhou. Cities ranked 1365th and 6198th ($2194 vs $868) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 18th 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 1.3 months in Suzhou. Melbourne ranked 1st best city to live in Australia vs Suzhou ranked 26th in China, while ranked 1st and 3351st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Melbourne vs Suzhou infographic

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Prices in Melbourne vs Suzhou

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

	Melbourne	Suzhou
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$14.2	$4.09
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.9	$41.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.78	$5.55
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.09	$4.13
☕ Cappuccino	$3.38	$4.11
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.54	$1.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1287	$386
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1014	$200
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2611	$1199
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1561	$526
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.7	$59.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$150	$93.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$49.3	$14.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.24%	4.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6900	$6107
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5335	$3223
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.51	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$117	$41.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.7	$4.55
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.2	$1.2
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.39	$2.54
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.28	$2.96
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.2	$1.28
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.68	$2.33
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.78	$20.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.79	$4.81
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.1	$10.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$2.24
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.8	$1.69
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.91	$1.75
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.93	$1.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.47	$0.97
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$1.3
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.93	$0.5
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.59	$1.97
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.5	$13.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.57	$0.99
🚬 Cigarette pack	$29	$4.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.67	$8.15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7	$4.32
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.2	$1.18
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.67	$1.99
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.2	$77.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.1	$6.87
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.3	$75.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$22.2	$8.03
👖 Brand Jeans	$70.1	$66.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$79.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1683	$1457
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19705	$17431

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	$1620
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1635
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1625
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1645
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1691
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1668
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1671
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1643
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1600
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1654
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$1981
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1390
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1291
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$1727
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1601
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1631
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1701
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1457
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1768
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1619
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1651
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2023
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1691
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1616
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2106
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1511
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1538
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1416
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$1978
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1584
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1702
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2252
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$1824
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2539
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2099
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1448
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$1795
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1681
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1185
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1963

Cities near Suzhou

Distance	City	Cost of living
35 km or 22 mi	Kunshan	$700
40 km or 25 mi	Changshu	$645
43 km or 27 mi	Wuxi	$670
49 km or 31 mi	Taicang	$665
63 km or 39 mi	Jiaxing	$573
64 km or 40 mi	Zhangjiagang	$640
69 km or 43 mi	Huzhou	$670
75 km or 47 mi	Jiangyin	$657
76 km or 47 mi	Yixing	$695
80 km or 50 mi	Nantong	$602
82 km or 51 mi	Shanghai	$1097
83 km or 52 mi	Changzhou	$702
84 km or 52 mi	Haimen	$631
85 km or 53 mi	Jingjiang	$643
88 km or 55 mi	Pudong	$984
109 km or 68 mi	Liyang	$654
112 km or 70 mi	Taixing	$636
114 km or 71 mi	Qidong	$701
120 km or 75 mi	Rugao	$644
123 km or 77 mi	Guangde	$650
125 km or 78 mi	Hangzhou	$805
125 km or 78 mi	Danyang	$607
129 km or 80 mi	Yangzhong	$603
137 km or 85 mi	Hai'an	$643
145 km or 90 mi	Shaoxing	$716
148 km or 92 mi	Taizhou	$644
149 km or 93 mi	Zhenjiang	$522
156 km or 97 mi	Jurong	$621
164 km or 102 mi	Yangzhou	$620
173 km or 107 mi	Ningguo	$642
175 km or 109 mi	Yizheng	$592
175 km or 109 mi	Dongtai	$665
182 km or 113 mi	Xuancheng	$672
182 km or 113 mi	Ningbo	$708
194 km or 120 mi	Nanjing	$746
196 km or 122 mi	Xinghua	$665
198 km or 123 mi	Gaoyou	$621
202 km or 125 mi	Zhoushan	$590
214 km or 133 mi	Wuhu	$691
216 km or 134 mi	Tianchang	$613