Milwaukee vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Milwaukee	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2088	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5072	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$1201	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$1937	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$594	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$119	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3838	$1068
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	81	99
😀 Quality of life	89	76
🏙️ Population	577K	24.9M

The cost of living in Milwaukee is 82% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1786th and 4880th ($2088 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1421st 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 1.8 months in Milwaukee compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. Milwaukee ranked 57th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 224th and 1178th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Milwaukee vs Shanghai

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

	Milwaukee	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.8	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.1	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.1	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.61	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$5.05	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.93	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1419	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$918	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2352	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1521	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$120	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$63.5	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.16%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2602	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1709	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.99	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$74.9	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.9	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.89	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.91	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.21	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.55	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.6	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.8	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.38	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.64	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.3	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.19	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.57	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.33	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.82	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.6	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.28	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.36	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.52	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.84	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$38.4	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.3	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$165	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.9	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$49.1	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$86.5	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1817	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24100	$27610

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Milwaukee

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.6 km or 3.5 mi	West Allis	$1923
6.3 km or 3.9 mi	Wauwatosa	$1949
10 km or 6.4 mi	Greenfield	$1927
13 km or 8.3 mi	Brookfield	$1993
15 km or 9.4 mi	New Berlin	$1934
17 km or 11 mi	South Milwaukee	$2000
17 km or 11 mi	Menomonee Falls	$1979
17 km or 11 mi	Franklin	$1963
19 km or 12 mi	Oak Creek	$1993
19 km or 12 mi	Mequon	$1990
22 km or 14 mi	Muskego	$1930
23 km or 14 mi	Waukesha	$1746
27 km or 17 mi	Caledonia	$1996
37 km or 23 mi	Mount Pleasant	$2058
38 km or 24 mi	Racine	$2065
46 km or 28 mi	West Bend	$1946
53 km or 33 mi	Kenosha	$2039
57 km or 36 mi	Pleasant Prairie	$2097
64 km or 40 mi	Watertown	$1950
67 km or 42 mi	Zion	$2344
74 km or 46 mi	Fort Atkinson	$1771
76 km or 47 mi	Round Lake Beach	$2382
76 km or 47 mi	Gurnee	$2389
77 km or 48 mi	Waukegan	$2443
78 km or 49 mi	Grayslake	$2364
80 km or 50 mi	Sheboygan	$1825
81 km or 51 mi	North Chicago	$2407
84 km or 52 mi	McHenry	$2434
85 km or 53 mi	Libertyville	$2418
87 km or 54 mi	Mundelein	$2162
90 km or 56 mi	Fond du Lac	$1813
91 km or 57 mi	Woodstock	$2249
91 km or 57 mi	Vernon Hills	$2428
96 km or 60 mi	Janesville	$1796
97 km or 60 mi	Crystal Lake	$2555
97 km or 60 mi	Highland Park	$2418
98 km or 61 mi	Buffalo Grove	$2410
101 km or 63 mi	Lake in the Hills	$2559
102 km or 63 mi	Wheeling	$2453
103 km or 64 mi	Northbrook	$2400

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1030
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$708
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$726
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$725
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$798
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$643
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$678
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$581
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$652
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$680
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$658
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$571
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$660
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$645
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$670
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$663
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$636
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$659
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$899
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$651
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$664
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$657
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$627
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$667
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$623
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$693
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$691
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$623
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$644
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$661
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$696
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$693
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$620
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$677
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$684
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$644
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$789