Ottawa vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Ottawa	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2133	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4730	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$1249	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$1952	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$587	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$172	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3871	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	49	99
😀 Quality of life	92	75
🏙️ Population	1.02M	24.9M

The cost of living in Ottawa is 89% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1668th and 4971st ($2133 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 27th and 5th in Canada and China, respectively. Check Canada vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Ottawa compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Ottawa ranked 10th best city to live in Canada vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 123rd 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 Ottawa vs Shanghai

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

	Ottawa	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.4	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$62.9	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.87	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$4.25	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.1	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1328	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1047	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2126	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1662	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$96.9	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$148	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$48.9	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.48%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4318	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3670	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.99	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$99.5	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.9	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.18	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.68	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.89	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.59	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.8	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.13	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.85	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.57	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.05	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.84	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.9	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.74	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.8	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.8	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.26	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.99	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.04	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.4	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$68.3	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.7	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.4	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$89.3	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$882	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17337	$27781

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Ottawa

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Gatineau	$1866
19 km or 12 mi	Kanata	$2229
87 km or 54 mi	Cornwall	$1703
94 km or 58 mi	Brockville	$1868
124 km or 77 mi	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	$1971
128 km or 80 mi	Mirabel	$1896
130 km or 81 mi	Vaudreuil-Dorion	$1924
138 km or 86 mi	Saint-Jerome	$1864
141 km or 87 mi	Saint-Eustache	$1948
143 km or 89 mi	Kirkland	$1930
144 km or 89 mi	Blainville	$1935
146 km or 90 mi	Sainte-Therese	$1950
147 km or 91 mi	Pointe-Claire	$1920
147 km or 91 mi	Boisbriand	$1934
147 km or 91 mi	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	$1944
147 km or 91 mi	Kingston	$1476
150 km or 93 mi	Le Ray	$1927
152 km or 94 mi	Dorval	$1923
152 km or 94 mi	Chateauguay	$1914
153 km or 95 mi	Laval	$2047
157 km or 98 mi	Saint-Lin-Laurentides	$1800
158 km or 98 mi	Cote-Saint-Luc	$1893
160 km or 100 mi	Mount Royal	$1876
162 km or 101 mi	Watertown	$1733
163 km or 102 mi	Terrebonne	$1907
163 km or 102 mi	Westmount	$1862
166 km or 103 mi	Saint-Constant	$1910
167 km or 104 mi	Montreal	$1928
167 km or 104 mi	Mascouche	$1852
170 km or 106 mi	Saint-Lambert	$1875
170 km or 106 mi	Candiac	$1940
170 km or 106 mi	Longueuil	$1923
171 km or 106 mi	La Prairie	$1960
175 km or 109 mi	Brossard	$2080
176 km or 109 mi	Boucherville	$1897
177 km or 110 mi	Repentigny	$1846
178 km or 111 mi	Varennes	$1861
183 km or 114 mi	L'Assomption	$1723
183 km or 114 mi	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	$1918
185 km or 115 mi	Sainte-Julie	$1891

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