Montreal vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Montreal	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1857	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4312	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$940	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$1577	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$575	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$187	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2742	$1644
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	100	100
😀 Quality of life	93	78
🏙️ Population	1.8M	24.9M

The cost of living in Montreal is 69% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 2225th and 4858th ($1857 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 51st and 6th in Canada and China, respectively. Check Canada vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Montreal compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Montreal ranked 1st best city to live in Canada vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 51st and 675th 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	$15.9	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$64.3	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.26	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$3.71	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.06	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1030	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$807	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1828	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1371	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$47.4	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$73.9	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.8	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.03%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6524	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4131	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.65	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$73.4	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.8	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.19	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.36	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.76	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.93	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.61	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.7	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.4	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.37	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.51	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.19	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.33	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.19	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.89	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.8	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.89	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$11.8	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.31	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.99	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.48	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.49	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.9	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$126	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.6	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$59.3	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.6	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$639	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5725	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Montreal

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.6 km or 2.3 mi	Saint-Lambert	$1790
4.3 km or 2.7 mi	Westmount	$1773
4.4 km or 2.8 mi	Longueuil	$1835
6.4 km or 4 mi	Mount Royal	$1792
9.4 km or 5.9 mi	Cote-Saint-Luc	$1803
9.9 km or 6.1 mi	Brossard	$2004
11 km or 7 mi	La Prairie	$1889
13 km or 8.3 mi	Boucherville	$1804
14 km or 8.9 mi	Candiac	$1852
16 km or 9.8 mi	Saint-Constant	$1824
16 km or 10 mi	Dorval	$1810
17 km or 10 mi	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	$1836
17 km or 10 mi	Laval	$1900
20 km or 12 mi	Sainte-Julie	$1800
20 km or 12 mi	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	$1814
20 km or 13 mi	Chateauguay	$1841
21 km or 13 mi	Pointe-Claire	$1819
22 km or 14 mi	Varennes	$1764
22 km or 14 mi	Terrebonne	$1776
23 km or 14 mi	Chambly	$1829
24 km or 15 mi	Boisbriand	$1732
25 km or 15 mi	Kirkland	$1807
26 km or 16 mi	Repentigny	$1743
26 km or 16 mi	Sainte-Therese	$1753
27 km or 17 mi	Mascouche	$1735
27 km or 17 mi	Saint-Eustache	$1768
29 km or 18 mi	Beloeil	$1742
31 km or 19 mi	Blainville	$1761
31 km or 20 mi	Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu	$1769
38 km or 23 mi	L'Assomption	$1651
39 km or 24 mi	Vaudreuil-Dorion	$1830
41 km or 26 mi	Saint-Lin-Laurentides	$1690
44 km or 27 mi	Mirabel	$1762
46 km or 28 mi	Saint-Jerome	$1733
49 km or 31 mi	Saint-Hyacinthe	$1562
53 km or 33 mi	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	$1894
57 km or 35 mi	Joliette	$1433
66 km or 41 mi	Granby	$1106
68 km or 42 mi	Sorel-Tracy	$1532
91 km or 56 mi	Plattsburgh	$1692

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$984
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$665
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$700
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$868
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$573
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$631
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$645
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$602
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$640
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$670
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$670
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$657
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$590
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$708
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$643
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$716
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$695
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$702
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$644
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$805
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$643
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$654
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$603
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$650
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$607
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$644
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$665
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$522
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$620
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$621
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$642
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$677
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$665
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$592
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$672
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$621
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$746