New York City vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	New York City	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$4044	$1190
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$8222	$3757
🏠 One person rent	$2662	$635
🏘️ Family rent	$3953	$1613
🍽️ Food expenses	$794	$308
🚐 Transport expenses	$392	$117
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$6298	$1455
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	100	100
😀 Quality of life	96	78
🏙️ Population	8.8M	24.9M

The cost of living in New York City is 240% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 6th and 4461st ($4044 vs $1190) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th 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 1.6 months in New York City compared to 1.2 months in Shanghai. New York City ranked 1st best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 8th and 558th 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

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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	$24.2	$4.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$108	$40.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.8	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.64	$1.7
☕ Cappuccino	$5.71	$3.83
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.94	$0.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$3504	$901
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2240	$497
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3748	$2595
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3719	$1269
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$103	$39.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$162	$60.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$66.3	$17.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.65%	4.77%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$16943	$17366
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12588	$9346
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.96	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$135	$37.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$26.4	$6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.05	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.4	$2.55
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.11	$2.02
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.76	$1.47
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.55	$2.21
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.5	$18.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$4.12
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.9	$12.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.87	$2.27
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.03	$1.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.87	$1.97
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.18	$1.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.38	$0.96
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.81	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.64	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$20	$14.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.67	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$16.7	$3.45
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.36	$6.43
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.02	$7.06
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$6.99	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.37	$2
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$115	$69.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$18.8	$8.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$111	$89.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$27.2	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$68.7	$66.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$78.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1647	$1283
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17859	$28143

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	$2529
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$2821
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3002
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$2743
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2739
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3241
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2691
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2638
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2613
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2494
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2608
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2612
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2520
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$1956
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2622
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2400
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2464
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2612
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2433
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2351
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2338
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2521
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2684
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2653
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2422
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2638
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2695
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2615
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2660
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2627
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2614
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2698
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2534
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2404
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2737
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2784
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2694
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2465
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2447
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3028

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1074
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$731
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$771
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$763
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$682
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$731
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$651
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$678
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$687
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$699
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$688
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$690
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$677
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$675
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$755
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$707
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$713
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$682
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$831
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$679
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$694
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$625
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$707
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$625
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$703
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$524
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$631
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$645
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$720
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$725
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$696
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$719
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$789
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$652
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$740