Mesa vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Mesa	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2417	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5513	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1519	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$2603	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$660	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$86.3	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4167	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	16 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	67	100
😀 Quality of life	75	77
🏙️ Population	504K	24.9M

The cost of living in Mesa is 114% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 998th and 4879th ($2417 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 876th and 5th in the United States and China, respectively. Check the United States vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Mesa compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Mesa ranked 578th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 1816th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Mesa vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Mesa vs Shanghai

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

	Mesa	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$20	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.1	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.1	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.98	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$5.91	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.73	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1553	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1210	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2487	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2225	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$158	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$242	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$82.9	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.46%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2964	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3484	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.01	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$44.9	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.9	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.9	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.9	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.21	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.88	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.65	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.8	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.6	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.58	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.92	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.89	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.46	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.92	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.84	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.59	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.43	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.9	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.12	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.29	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.95	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.27	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.2	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.09	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.8	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$110	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.8	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$45.2	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$95.2	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1207	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15463	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Mesa

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Gilbert	$2447
10 km or 6.5 mi	Tempe	$2448
12 km or 7.7 mi	Scottsdale	$2332
12 km or 7.7 mi	Chandler	$2349
23 km or 14 mi	Fountain Hills	$2371
25 km or 15 mi	Queen Creek	$3031
26 km or 16 mi	Phoenix	$2340
26 km or 16 mi	Apache Junction	$2491
39 km or 24 mi	Glendale	$1977
42 km or 26 mi	Peoria	$2344
45 km or 28 mi	Maricopa	$2320
48 km or 30 mi	Avondale	$2523
49 km or 30 mi	Goodyear	$2481
51 km or 31 mi	El Mirage	$2322
55 km or 34 mi	Surprise	$2353
59 km or 37 mi	Florence	$2466
59 km or 37 mi	Casa Grande	$2403
71 km or 44 mi	Buckeye	$2365
132 km or 82 mi	Marana	$2084
136 km or 85 mi	Oro Valley	$2060
138 km or 86 mi	Prescott	$2348
140 km or 87 mi	Prescott Valley	$2341
141 km or 88 mi	Casas Adobes	$2021
157 km or 98 mi	Tucson	$1940
183 km or 114 mi	Sahuarita	$2046
199 km or 124 mi	Flagstaff	$2598
244 km or 152 mi	Nogales	$2095
247 km or 154 mi	Nogales	$727
254 km or 158 mi	Sierra Vista	$1612
257 km or 160 mi	Blythe	$2757
258 km or 160 mi	Lake Havasu	$2021
272 km or 169 mi	Yuma	$1760
283 km or 176 mi	Kingman	$1883
292 km or 182 mi	San Luis	$1911
293 km or 182 mi	San Luis Rio Colorado	$965
301 km or 187 mi	Caborca	$881
316 km or 196 mi	Agua Prieta	$813
316 km or 196 mi	Bullhead	$1855
348 km or 216 mi	Brawley	$2751
349 km or 217 mi	Mexicali	$945

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