Montreal vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Montreal	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1954	$1136
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4616	$3654
🏠 One person rent	$986	$602
🏘️ Family rent	$1716	$1527
🍽️ Food expenses	$608	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$190	$116
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2805	$1905
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	100	100
😀 Quality of life	93	79
🏙️ Population	1.76M	24.9M

The cost of living in Montreal is 72% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 2002nd and 4780th ($1954 vs $1136) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 54th and 6th in Canada and China, respectively. Check Canada vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Montreal compared to 1.7 months in Shanghai. Montreal ranked 2nd best city to live in Canada vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 60th and 571st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Montreal vs Shanghai infographic

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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	$16.6	$3.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76.2	$42.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.1	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.72	$1.43
☕ Cappuccino	$3.94	$3.61
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.2	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1044	$897
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$856	$461
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2012	$2549
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1492	$1181
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$49.3	$36.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$77	$56.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$42.7	$16.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.28%	4.28%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7494	$16156
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4431	$8893
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.79	$0.57
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$73.2	$36.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.3	$6.13
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.27	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.34	$2.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.92	$1.99
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.95	$1.41
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.73	$2.11
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.1	$15.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.3	$3.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$11.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.4	$2.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.28	$2.05
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.36	$1.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$0.98
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.26	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.06	$1.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.7	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.18	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$11.5	$3.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$6.62
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.65	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.67	$1.72
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.01	$2.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.2	$55
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.3	$8.47
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$121	$90.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$32.8	$11.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.4	$58.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$95.7	$78.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$669	$1263
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6957	$31401

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	$1873
4.3 km or 2.7 mi	Westmount	$1861
4.4 km or 2.8 mi	Longueuil	$1896
6.4 km or 4 mi	Mount Royal	$1871
9.4 km or 5.9 mi	Cote-Saint-Luc	$1890
9.9 km or 6.1 mi	Brossard	$2057
11 km or 7 mi	La Prairie	$1960
13 km or 8.3 mi	Boucherville	$1878
14 km or 8.9 mi	Candiac	$1927
16 km or 9.8 mi	Saint-Constant	$1912
16 km or 10 mi	Dorval	$1912
17 km or 10 mi	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	$1912
17 km or 10 mi	Laval	$1996
20 km or 12 mi	Sainte-Julie	$1884
20 km or 12 mi	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	$1898
20 km or 13 mi	Chateauguay	$1964
21 km or 13 mi	Pointe-Claire	$1908
22 km or 14 mi	Varennes	$1845
22 km or 14 mi	Terrebonne	$1849
23 km or 14 mi	Chambly	$1901
24 km or 15 mi	Boisbriand	$1751
25 km or 15 mi	Kirkland	$1897
26 km or 16 mi	Repentigny	$1823
26 km or 16 mi	Sainte-Therese	$1785
27 km or 17 mi	Mascouche	$1821
27 km or 17 mi	Saint-Eustache	$1839
29 km or 18 mi	Beloeil	$1836
31 km or 19 mi	Blainville	$1799
31 km or 20 mi	Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu	$1843
38 km or 23 mi	L'Assomption	$1740
39 km or 24 mi	Vaudreuil-Dorion	$1921
41 km or 26 mi	Saint-Lin-Laurentides	$1773
44 km or 27 mi	Mirabel	$1828
46 km or 28 mi	Saint-Jerome	$1805
49 km or 31 mi	Saint-Hyacinthe	$1657
53 km or 33 mi	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	$2002
57 km or 35 mi	Joliette	$1540
66 km or 41 mi	Granby	$1187
68 km or 42 mi	Sorel-Tracy	$1624
91 km or 56 mi	Plattsburgh	$1610

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1028
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$706
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$749
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$738
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$585
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$661
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$718
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$620
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$676
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$706
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$685
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$612
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$733
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$674
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$742
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$702
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$729
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$674
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$843
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$676
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$690
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$629
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$698
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$630
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$673
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$698
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$650
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$651
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$703
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$708
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$699
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$702
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$771
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$648
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$774