Munich vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Munich	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2499	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5815	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$1483	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$2594	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$601	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$248	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4507	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	23 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	90	99
😀 Quality of life	94	75
🏙️ Population	1.51M	24.9M

The cost of living in Munich is 122% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 889th and 4971st ($2499 vs $1126) 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 1.8 months in Munich compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Munich ranked 8th best city to live in Germany vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 38th 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 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	$19.1	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$85.3	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14.4	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.63	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$5	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.86	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1499	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1182	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2689	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2147	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$194	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$295	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$43.9	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.76%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12913	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8949	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$4.84	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$70.4	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$29.5	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.02	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.47	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.45	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.98	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.44	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.1	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.8	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.8	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.93	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.74	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.56	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.79	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.06	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.71	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.31	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.2	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.22	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.78	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.16	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.6	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$55.8	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16.7	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$81.5	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$21.6	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.7	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1039	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16629	$27781

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	$2008
16 km or 10 mi	Unterschleiheim	$1954
17 km or 10 mi	Puchheim	$1994
17 km or 11 mi	Dachau	$1967
20 km or 13 mi	Olching	$1943
23 km or 15 mi	Starnberg	$1925
24 km or 15 mi	Furstenfeldbruck	$1918
31 km or 19 mi	Erding	$1771
31 km or 19 mi	Geretsried	$1877
32 km or 20 mi	Freising	$1806
44 km or 28 mi	Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm	$1790
47 km or 29 mi	Weilheim in Oberbayern	$1890
48 km or 30 mi	Aichach	$1827
50 km or 31 mi	Friedberg	$1864
52 km or 32 mi	Rosenheim	$1316
53 km or 33 mi	Konigsbrunn	$1853
53 km or 33 mi	Landsberg am Lech	$1840
57 km or 35 mi	Augsburg	$1983
61 km or 38 mi	Gersthofen	$1881
62 km or 38 mi	Landshut	$1785
62 km or 38 mi	Waldkraiburg	$1707
62 km or 39 mi	Neusa	$1877
71 km or 44 mi	Ingolstadt	$1819
71 km or 44 mi	Muhldorf	$1707
72 km or 45 mi	Neuburg an der Donau	$1766
76 km or 48 mi	Kaufbeuren	$1867
77 km or 48 mi	Traunreut	$1635
80 km or 50 mi	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	$2117
85 km or 53 mi	Traunstein	$1638
87 km or 54 mi	Donauworth	$1735
98 km or 61 mi	Innsbruck	$1904
103 km or 64 mi	Gunzburg	$1726
104 km or 65 mi	Kempten	$1696
105 km or 65 mi	Regensburg	$1724
105 km or 65 mi	Memmingen	$1759
110 km or 69 mi	Straubing	$1698
112 km or 70 mi	Nordlingen	$1693
114 km or 71 mi	Senden	$1699
116 km or 72 mi	Salzburg	$2009
119 km or 74 mi	Sonthofen	$1748

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