Melbourne vs Suzhou - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Melbourne	Suzhou
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2496	$782
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6197	$2291
🏠 One person rent	$1388	$276
🏘️ Family rent	$2468	$473
🍽️ Food expenses	$606	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$346	$113
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4328	$983
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	19 km
🎓 Higher education	100	65
😀 Quality of life	100	72
🏙️ Population	5.35M	12.7M

The cost of living in Melbourne is 219% more expensive than in Suzhou. Cities ranked 893rd and 6833rd ($2496 vs $782) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 31st in Australia and China, respectively. Check Australia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Melbourne compared to 1.3 months in Suzhou. Melbourne ranked 1st best city to live in Australia vs Suzhou ranked 13th in China, while ranked 1st and 3150th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$15.4	$4.31
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$71.7	$37.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$5.07
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$9.06	$2.17
☕ Cappuccino	$4.04	$3.45
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.97	$0.86
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1549	$379
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1138	$161
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2861	$673
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2079	$295
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$115	$58.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$180	$89.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.7	$12.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.61%	3.65%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7481	$6055
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6465	$2903
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.9	$0.29
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$132	$43.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.3	$4.54
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.33	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.73	$2.31
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.72	$2.29
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$1.25
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.92	$1.91
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$21.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.85	$3.41
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.8	$8.34
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.7	$2
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$1.36
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.42	$1.38
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.78	$1.56
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.06	$0.61
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.73	$1.2
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.17	$0.36
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.74	$2.04
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.8	$10.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.42	$1.03
🚬 Cigarette pack	$25.8	$4.36
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.05	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.9	$4.55
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.3	$1.23
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.88	$2.1
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$48.2	$37.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.5	$5.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$53.7	$79.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$26.2	$8.04
👖 Brand Jeans	$80	$47.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$127	$75.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2232	$903
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$26129	$17664

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	$1829
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1854
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1822
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1894
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1928
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1906
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1889
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1860
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1798
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1896
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$2217
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1604
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1487
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$1979
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1815
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1870
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1901
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1898
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1824
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1753
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2223
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1904
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1821
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2308
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1477
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1699
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1695
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$2338
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1710
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1867
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2482
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$2050
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2844
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2379
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1997
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$2128
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1288
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172

Cities near Suzhou

Distance	City	Cost of living
35 km or 22 mi	Kunshan	$696
40 km or 25 mi	Changshu	$644
43 km or 27 mi	Wuxi	$683
49 km or 31 mi	Taicang	$669
63 km or 39 mi	Jiaxing	$594
64 km or 40 mi	Zhangjiagang	$667
69 km or 43 mi	Huzhou	$643
75 km or 47 mi	Jiangyin	$650
76 km or 47 mi	Yixing	$684
80 km or 50 mi	Nantong	$557
82 km or 51 mi	Shanghai	$1126
83 km or 52 mi	Changzhou	$623
84 km or 52 mi	Haimen	$620
85 km or 53 mi	Jingjiang	$636
88 km or 55 mi	Pudong	$1002
109 km or 68 mi	Liyang	$652
112 km or 70 mi	Taixing	$636
114 km or 71 mi	Qidong	$701
120 km or 75 mi	Rugao	$646
123 km or 77 mi	Guangde	$652
125 km or 78 mi	Hangzhou	$860
125 km or 78 mi	Danyang	$604
129 km or 80 mi	Yangzhong	$611
137 km or 85 mi	Hai'an	$647
145 km or 90 mi	Shaoxing	$680
148 km or 92 mi	Taizhou	$675
149 km or 93 mi	Zhenjiang	$525
156 km or 97 mi	Jurong	$626
164 km or 102 mi	Yangzhou	$618
173 km or 107 mi	Ningguo	$644
175 km or 109 mi	Yizheng	$601
175 km or 109 mi	Dongtai	$678
182 km or 113 mi	Xuancheng	$665
182 km or 113 mi	Ningbo	$671
194 km or 120 mi	Nanjing	$765
196 km or 122 mi	Xinghua	$677
198 km or 123 mi	Gaoyou	$632
202 km or 125 mi	Zhoushan	$584
214 km or 133 mi	Wuhu	$680
216 km or 134 mi	Tianchang	$623