Munich vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Munich	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2525	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5816	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$1500	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$2602	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$604	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$252	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4312	$1068
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	90	99
😀 Quality of life	94	76
🏙️ Population	1.51M	24.9M

The cost of living in Munich is 120% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 863rd and 4880th ($2525 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th in Germany and China, respectively. Check Germany vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Munich compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. Munich ranked 8th best city to live in Germany vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 44th 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 Munich vs Shanghai

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

	Munich	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$19.2	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$79	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14.2	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.43	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$4.75	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.92	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1520	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1185	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2776	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2116	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$206	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$313	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.3	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.86%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$13704	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9217	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$4.76	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$73.3	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$29.4	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.16	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.43	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.57	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.2	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.5	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$21.6	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.78	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.65	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.14	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.77	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.35	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.65	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.7	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.6	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.91	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.83	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$56.2	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16.8	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$77.9	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.7	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$99.8	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$102	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$871	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17274	$27610

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Munich

Distance	City	Cost of living
16 km or 9.6 mi	Germering	$2002
16 km or 10 mi	Unterschleiheim	$1940
17 km or 10 mi	Puchheim	$1976
17 km or 11 mi	Dachau	$1960
20 km or 13 mi	Olching	$1925
23 km or 15 mi	Starnberg	$1910
24 km or 15 mi	Furstenfeldbruck	$1890
31 km or 19 mi	Erding	$1748
31 km or 19 mi	Geretsried	$1841
32 km or 20 mi	Freising	$1770
44 km or 28 mi	Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm	$1753
47 km or 29 mi	Weilheim in Oberbayern	$1858
48 km or 30 mi	Aichach	$1790
50 km or 31 mi	Friedberg	$1835
52 km or 32 mi	Rosenheim	$1292
53 km or 33 mi	Konigsbrunn	$1816
53 km or 33 mi	Landsberg am Lech	$1789
57 km or 35 mi	Augsburg	$1938
61 km or 38 mi	Gersthofen	$1828
62 km or 38 mi	Landshut	$1731
62 km or 38 mi	Waldkraiburg	$1668
62 km or 39 mi	Neusa	$1834
71 km or 44 mi	Ingolstadt	$1788
71 km or 44 mi	Muhldorf	$1660
72 km or 45 mi	Neuburg an der Donau	$1726
76 km or 48 mi	Kaufbeuren	$1808
77 km or 48 mi	Traunreut	$1610
80 km or 50 mi	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	$2075
85 km or 53 mi	Traunstein	$1606
87 km or 54 mi	Donauworth	$1704
98 km or 61 mi	Innsbruck	$1887
103 km or 64 mi	Gunzburg	$1669
104 km or 65 mi	Kempten	$1678
105 km or 65 mi	Regensburg	$1667
105 km or 65 mi	Memmingen	$1717
110 km or 69 mi	Straubing	$1647
112 km or 70 mi	Nordlingen	$1647
114 km or 71 mi	Senden	$1636
116 km or 72 mi	Salzburg	$2003
119 km or 74 mi	Sonthofen	$1714

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