New York City vs Shenzhen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	New York City	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$4441	$916
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$10033	$2694
🏠 One person rent	$2960	$478
🏘️ Family rent	$5380	$1142
🍽️ Food expenses	$886	$261
🚐 Transport expenses	$364	$85.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5544	$1771
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	100	96
😀 Quality of life	95	80
🏙️ Population	8.8M	17.7M

The cost of living in New York City is 385% more expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 3rd and 5950th ($4441 vs $916) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 12th 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 1.9 months in Shenzhen. New York City ranked 2nd best city to live in the United States vs Shenzhen ranked 3rd in China, while ranked 22nd and 545th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in New York City vs Shenzhen infographic

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Prices in New York City vs Shenzhen

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

	New York City	Shenzhen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$29.7	$3.06
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$133	$27.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$5.23
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.94	$1.11
☕ Cappuccino	$5.95	$3.03
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.2	$0.46
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$3501	$667
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2603	$360
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4776	$1650
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$5236	$917
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$112	$43.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$171	$65.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.5	$13.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.55%	4.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$17935	$12583
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$12929	$6551
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.91	$0.41
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$132	$23.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$22.5	$4.51
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$5.04	$1.89
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.95	$1.18
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.54	$1.89
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$13
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.4	$4.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20	$13.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.6	$1.9
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.05	$1.73
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.2	$1.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.66	$1.08
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.84	$1.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.72	$0.4
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.41	$1.05
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$20	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.89	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.1	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.89	$5.27
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.44	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$6.94	$1.63
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.95	$1.91
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$71	$48.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$20.1	$6.86
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$173	$33.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$36.1	$9.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$67.3	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$113	$78
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1784	$502
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21465	$22267

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 Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2432
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2737
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$653
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$656
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1588
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$461
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$601
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$804
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$774
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$611
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$936
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$812
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$764
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$794
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$793
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$823
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$877
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$569
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$818
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$443
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$581
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$655
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$451
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$803
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$755
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$758
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$761
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$756
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$761
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$724
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$771
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$764
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$649
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$664
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$702
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$688
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$650
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$823
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$522
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$609