New Orleans vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	New Orleans	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2240	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5332	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$1292	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$2231	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$695	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$81.7	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4054	$1068
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	85	99
😀 Quality of life	88	76
🏙️ Population	384K	24.9M

The cost of living in New Orleans is 95% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1402nd and 4880th ($2240 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1171st and 5th in the United States and China, respectively. Check the United States vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in New Orleans compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. New Orleans ranked 85th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 290th and 1178th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/new-orleans/shanghai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in New Orleans vs Shanghai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/new-orleans/shanghai" target="_blank">New Orleans vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in New Orleans vs Shanghai

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

	New Orleans	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$23.6	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$99.8	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.5	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$5.14	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.99	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1472	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$984	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2627	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1770	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$146	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$225	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.18%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3196	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1482	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.24	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$45	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.7	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.87	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.34	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.45	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.82	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.46	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.88	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.32	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.1	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.43	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.74	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.94	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.7	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.1	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.98	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.25	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.26	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.38	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.86	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.6	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.7	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$141	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$22.5	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$53	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$89.9	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1579	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10142	$27610

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near New Orleans

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Kenner	$2135
46 km or 29 mi	Slidell	$2066
46 km or 29 mi	Mandeville	$1781
72 km or 45 mi	Hammond	$1937
74 km or 46 mi	Houma	$1752
109 km or 68 mi	Gulfport	$1791
112 km or 70 mi	Morgan	$2159
114 km or 71 mi	Central	$2071
119 km or 74 mi	Baton Rouge	$2049
121 km or 75 mi	Biloxi	$1794
154 km or 96 mi	Pascagoula	$1898
168 km or 104 mi	New Iberia	$2094
168 km or 105 mi	Hattiesburg	$1713
189 km or 118 mi	Lafayette	$1797
203 km or 126 mi	Opelousas	$1959
209 km or 130 mi	Prichard	$1801
212 km or 132 mi	Mobile	$1702
213 km or 133 mi	Laurel	$1593
218 km or 135 mi	Natchez	$1934
223 km or 139 mi	Daphne	$1806
235 km or 146 mi	Foley	$1794
258 km or 160 mi	Pearl	$2087
259 km or 161 mi	Brandon	$2286
261 km or 162 mi	Jackson	$1922
266 km or 166 mi	Clinton	$2046
272 km or 169 mi	Alexandria	$1800
274 km or 170 mi	Ridgeland	$2073
276 km or 171 mi	Vicksburg	$1983
278 km or 173 mi	Madison	$2073
281 km or 175 mi	Pensacola	$2244
299 km or 186 mi	Meridian	$1746
303 km or 188 mi	Lake Charles	$1917
318 km or 198 mi	Sulphur	$1977
336 km or 209 mi	Fort Walton Beach	$2035
344 km or 214 mi	Monroe	$1612
348 km or 216 mi	Crestview	$1978
373 km or 231 mi	Port Arthur	$1895
376 km or 234 mi	Ruston	$1855
390 km or 243 mi	Beaumont	$1621
394 km or 245 mi	Greenville	$1940

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