Montreal vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Montreal	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1928	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4433	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$992	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$1658	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$585	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$192	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3005	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	100	99
😀 Quality of life	96	75
🏙️ Population	1.8M	24.9M

The cost of living in Montreal is 71% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 2284th and 4971st ($1928 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 58th and 5th in Canada and China, respectively. Check Canada vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Montreal compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Montreal ranked 1st best city to live in Canada vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 11th 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 Montreal vs Shanghai

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

	Montreal	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.8	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$65.9	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.9	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.46	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$4.06	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.04	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1085	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$852	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1939	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1436	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$51.8	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$79.4	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.8	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.47%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5305	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4101	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.78	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$76.6	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.2	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.13	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.38	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.89	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.92	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.56	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.3	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.8	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.1	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.38	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.54	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.24	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.33	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.65	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.43	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.99	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.49	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.77	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.44	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.53	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.54	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.1	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.8	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$117	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$22.6	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.6	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$568	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5550	$27781

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Montreal

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.6 km or 2.3 mi	Saint-Lambert	$1875
4.3 km or 2.7 mi	Westmount	$1862
4.4 km or 2.8 mi	Longueuil	$1923
6.4 km or 4 mi	Mount Royal	$1876
9.4 km or 5.9 mi	Cote-Saint-Luc	$1893
9.9 km or 6.1 mi	Brossard	$2080
11 km or 7 mi	La Prairie	$1960
13 km or 8.3 mi	Boucherville	$1897
14 km or 8.9 mi	Candiac	$1940
16 km or 9.8 mi	Saint-Constant	$1910
16 km or 10 mi	Dorval	$1923
17 km or 10 mi	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	$1918
17 km or 10 mi	Laval	$2047
20 km or 12 mi	Sainte-Julie	$1891
20 km or 12 mi	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	$1944
20 km or 13 mi	Chateauguay	$1914
21 km or 13 mi	Pointe-Claire	$1920
22 km or 14 mi	Varennes	$1861
22 km or 14 mi	Terrebonne	$1907
23 km or 14 mi	Chambly	$1918
24 km or 15 mi	Boisbriand	$1934
25 km or 15 mi	Kirkland	$1930
26 km or 16 mi	Repentigny	$1846
26 km or 16 mi	Sainte-Therese	$1950
27 km or 17 mi	Mascouche	$1852
27 km or 17 mi	Saint-Eustache	$1948
29 km or 18 mi	Beloeil	$1838
31 km or 19 mi	Blainville	$1935
31 km or 20 mi	Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu	$1857
38 km or 23 mi	L'Assomption	$1723
39 km or 24 mi	Vaudreuil-Dorion	$1924
41 km or 26 mi	Saint-Lin-Laurentides	$1800
44 km or 27 mi	Mirabel	$1896
46 km or 28 mi	Saint-Jerome	$1864
49 km or 31 mi	Saint-Hyacinthe	$1642
53 km or 33 mi	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	$1971
57 km or 35 mi	Joliette	$1458
66 km or 41 mi	Granby	$1142
68 km or 42 mi	Sorel-Tracy	$1589
91 km or 56 mi	Plattsburgh	$1805

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