Ottawa vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Ottawa	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2096	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4619	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$1231	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$1937	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$576	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$166	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3333	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	50	100
😀 Quality of life	92	77
🏙️ Population	1.02M	24.9M

The cost of living in Ottawa is 86% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1744th and 4879th ($2096 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 24th and 5th in Canada and China, respectively. Check Canada vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Ottawa compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Ottawa ranked 11th best city to live in Canada vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 129th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Ottawa vs Shanghai infographic

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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	$16.1	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$63.6	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.8	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.52	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$3.81	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1295	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1036	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2109	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1647	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$95.9	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$150	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$47.4	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.23%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4937	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3196	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.84	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$95.2	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.2	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.04	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.35	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.55	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.89	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.53	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.1	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.9	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.31	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.6	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.88	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.59	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.16	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.99	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.77	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.5	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.61	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.9	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.6	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.18	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.9	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.76	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.4	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.7	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.8	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.4	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$89	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$783	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15527	$27624

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	$1802
19 km or 12 mi	Kanata	$2166
87 km or 54 mi	Cornwall	$1660
94 km or 58 mi	Brockville	$1836
124 km or 77 mi	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	$1935
128 km or 80 mi	Mirabel	$1782
130 km or 81 mi	Vaudreuil-Dorion	$1850
138 km or 86 mi	Saint-Jerome	$1753
141 km or 87 mi	Saint-Eustache	$1806
143 km or 89 mi	Kirkland	$1835
144 km or 89 mi	Blainville	$1780
146 km or 90 mi	Sainte-Therese	$1785
147 km or 91 mi	Pointe-Claire	$1838
147 km or 91 mi	Boisbriand	$1763
147 km or 91 mi	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	$1829
147 km or 91 mi	Kingston	$1437
150 km or 93 mi	Le Ray	$1822
152 km or 94 mi	Dorval	$1853
152 km or 94 mi	Chateauguay	$1867
153 km or 95 mi	Laval	$1930
157 km or 98 mi	Saint-Lin-Laurentides	$1719
158 km or 98 mi	Cote-Saint-Luc	$1835
160 km or 100 mi	Mount Royal	$1820
162 km or 101 mi	Watertown	$1649
163 km or 102 mi	Terrebonne	$1805
163 km or 102 mi	Westmount	$1814
166 km or 103 mi	Saint-Constant	$1864
167 km or 104 mi	Montreal	$1903
167 km or 104 mi	Mascouche	$1766
170 km or 106 mi	Saint-Lambert	$1828
170 km or 106 mi	Candiac	$1892
170 km or 106 mi	Longueuil	$1842
171 km or 106 mi	La Prairie	$1911
175 km or 109 mi	Brossard	$2055
176 km or 109 mi	Boucherville	$1820
177 km or 110 mi	Repentigny	$1767
178 km or 111 mi	Varennes	$1786
183 km or 114 mi	L'Assomption	$1671
183 km or 114 mi	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	$1869
185 km or 115 mi	Sainte-Julie	$1822

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1003
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$673
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$696
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$771
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$597
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$612
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$632
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$547
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$648
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$679
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$631
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$634
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$576
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$713
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$621
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$740
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$674
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$601
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$630
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$826
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$622
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$634
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$639
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$597
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$642
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$597
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$664
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$531
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$602
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$618
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$637
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$672
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$663
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$590
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$666
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$659
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$617
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$753