Mexico City vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Mexico City	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1428	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3399	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$774	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$1379	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$431	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$103	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1028	$879
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	8 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	93	99
😀 Quality of life	72	75
🏙️ Population	9.21M	24.9M

The cost of living in Mexico City is 27% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 4274th and 4971st ($1428 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 6th and 5th in Mexico and China, respectively. Check Mexico vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Mexico City compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Mexico City ranked 1st best city to live in Mexico vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 3354th and 1655th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Mexico City vs Shanghai

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

	Mexico City	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.7	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$43.4	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.2	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.53	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$4.24	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.8	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1035	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$623	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1886	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1143	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.6	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.1	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$33.7	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.35%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3740	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2224	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$24.4	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.19	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.44	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.83	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.4	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.93	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.89	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.4	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.98	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.29	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.89	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.87	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.4	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.8	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.83	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.92	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.97	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.47	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.97	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.84	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$56.2	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.33	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$50.8	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$17.3	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$65.6	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$113	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$473	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11420	$27781

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Mexico City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7.1 mi	Naucalpan	$975
14 km or 8.7 mi	Tlalnepantla	$1008
17 km or 10 mi	Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl	$969
19 km or 12 mi	Ciudad Lopez Mateos	$1015
22 km or 14 mi	Ecatepec de Morelos	$842
25 km or 16 mi	Tultitlan de Mariano Escobedo	$941
25 km or 16 mi	Chicoloapan de Juarez	$1040
26 km or 16 mi	Cuautitlan Izcalli	$880
29 km or 18 mi	Texcoco de Mora	$982
30 km or 19 mi	Tultepec	$917
31 km or 19 mi	Chalco de Diaz Covarrubias	$1015
42 km or 26 mi	Zumpango	$934
55 km or 34 mi	Toluca	$986
56 km or 35 mi	Cuernavaca	$887
60 km or 37 mi	Jiutepec	$907
70 km or 44 mi	Cuautla	$1032
89 km or 55 mi	Pachuca	$771
93 km or 58 mi	Atlixco	$987
105 km or 65 mi	San Jose Villa de Allende	$971
106 km or 66 mi	Puebla	$1075
107 km or 67 mi	Taxco	$981
126 km or 79 mi	Iguala	$1004
140 km or 87 mi	San Juan del Rio	$1041
184 km or 114 mi	Queretaro	$1241
192 km or 119 mi	Teziutlan	$950
211 km or 131 mi	Chilpancingo	$766
213 km or 132 mi	Tehuacan	$926
214 km or 133 mi	Celaya	$803
216 km or 134 mi	Poza Rica	$928
217 km or 135 mi	Morelia	$926
224 km or 139 mi	Cortazar	$894
224 km or 139 mi	Orizaba	$944
225 km or 140 mi	Yuriria	$952
229 km or 143 mi	Coatepec	$846
234 km or 145 mi	Xalapa	$670
236 km or 146 mi	San Miguel de Allende	$1469
239 km or 149 mi	Cordoba	$962
250 km or 155 mi	Salamanca	$950
269 km or 167 mi	Irapuato	$910
281 km or 174 mi	Zacapu	$1023

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1002
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$669
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$782
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$594
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$620
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$644
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$557
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$667
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$683
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$643
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$650
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$584
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$671
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$636
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$680
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$684
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$623
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$646
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$860
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$647
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$652
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$611
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$652
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$604
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$675
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$678
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$525
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$618
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$626
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$644
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$667
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$677
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$601
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$665
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$632
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$765