Munich vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Munich	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2201	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5311	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$1313	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$2479	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$524	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$211	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3560	$1644
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	90	100
😀 Quality of life	93	78
🏙️ Population	1.51M	24.9M

The cost of living in Munich is 101% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1352nd and 4858th ($2201 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Germany and China, respectively. Check Germany vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Munich compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Munich ranked 8th best city to live in Germany vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 54th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Munich vs Shanghai infographic

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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	$16.2	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$69.1	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.6	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.92	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$4.32	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.69	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1323	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1006	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2618	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2005	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$205	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$313	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.8	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.97%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12224	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8488	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$4.1	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$59.5	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$24.8	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.85	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.12	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.7	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.7	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.8	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.9	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.88	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.86	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.62	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.57	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.83	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.83	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.1	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.08	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.34	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.92	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.42	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$52.2	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.5	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$73.1	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$22.5	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$92.9	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.9	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$953	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14702	$30174

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	$1789
16 km or 10 mi	Unterschleiheim	$1746
17 km or 10 mi	Puchheim	$1772
17 km or 11 mi	Dachau	$1755
20 km or 13 mi	Olching	$1730
23 km or 15 mi	Starnberg	$1727
24 km or 15 mi	Furstenfeldbruck	$1711
31 km or 19 mi	Erding	$1631
31 km or 19 mi	Geretsried	$1679
32 km or 20 mi	Freising	$1611
44 km or 28 mi	Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm	$1568
47 km or 29 mi	Weilheim in Oberbayern	$1700
48 km or 30 mi	Aichach	$1613
50 km or 31 mi	Friedberg	$1644
52 km or 32 mi	Rosenheim	$1164
53 km or 33 mi	Konigsbrunn	$1638
53 km or 33 mi	Landsberg am Lech	$1637
57 km or 35 mi	Augsburg	$1728
61 km or 38 mi	Gersthofen	$1644
62 km or 38 mi	Landshut	$1569
62 km or 38 mi	Waldkraiburg	$1541
62 km or 39 mi	Neusa	$1645
71 km or 44 mi	Ingolstadt	$1465
71 km or 44 mi	Muhldorf	$1537
72 km or 45 mi	Neuburg an der Donau	$1508
76 km or 48 mi	Kaufbeuren	$1698
77 km or 48 mi	Traunreut	$1517
80 km or 50 mi	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	$1911
85 km or 53 mi	Traunstein	$1540
87 km or 54 mi	Donauworth	$1544
98 km or 61 mi	Innsbruck	$1636
103 km or 64 mi	Gunzburg	$1538
104 km or 65 mi	Kempten	$1502
105 km or 65 mi	Regensburg	$1627
105 km or 65 mi	Memmingen	$1565
110 km or 69 mi	Straubing	$1522
112 km or 70 mi	Nordlingen	$1509
114 km or 71 mi	Senden	$1516
116 km or 72 mi	Salzburg	$1672
119 km or 74 mi	Sonthofen	$1560

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