New York City vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	New York City	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$4441	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$10033	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$2960	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$5380	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$886	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$364	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5544	$1644
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	100	100
😀 Quality of life	95	78
🏙️ Population	8.8M	24.9M

The cost of living in New York City is 305% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 3rd and 4858th ($4441 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th 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 1.2 months in New York City compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. New York City ranked 2nd best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 22nd and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in New York City vs Shanghai infographic

Share this infographic!

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

Prices in New York City vs Shanghai

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

	New York City	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$29.7	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$133	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.94	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$5.95	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.2	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$3501	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2603	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4776	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$5236	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$112	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$171	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.5	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.55%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$17935	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12929	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.91	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$132	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$22.5	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$5.04	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.95	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.54	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.4	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.6	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.05	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.2	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.66	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.84	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.72	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.41	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$20	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.89	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.1	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.89	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.44	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$6.94	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.95	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$71	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$20.1	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$173	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$36.1	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$67.3	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$113	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1784	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21465	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2534
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3271
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3040
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$2886
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2703
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3302
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2701
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2756
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2698
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2720
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2730
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2792
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2667
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2729
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2740
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2512
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2693
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2732
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2531
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2587
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2637
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2614
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2749
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2664
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2480
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2715
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2722
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2676
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2747
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2664
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2716
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2745
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2611
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2456
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2674
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2772
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2730
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2610
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2456
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3111

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