Ottawa vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Ottawa	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2236	$1136
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4945	$3654
🏠 One person rent	$1327	$602
🏘️ Family rent	$2038	$1527
🍽️ Food expenses	$603	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$179	$116
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3150	$1905
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	50	100
😀 Quality of life	89	79
🏙️ Population	1.02M	24.9M

The cost of living in Ottawa is 97% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1290th and 4780th ($2236 vs $1136) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 23rd and 6th in Canada and China, respectively. Check Canada vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Ottawa compared to 1.7 months in Shanghai. Ottawa ranked 12th best city to live in Canada vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 167th and 571st 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	$17.6	$3.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$74.1	$42.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.2	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.89	$1.43
☕ Cappuccino	$3.95	$3.61
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.31	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1288	$897
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1129	$461
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2131	$2549
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1732	$1181
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$113	$36.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$173	$56.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$53.5	$16.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.47%	4.28%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5242	$16156
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4784	$8893
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.78	$0.57
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$94.4	$36.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.7	$6.13
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.12	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.35	$2.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.72	$1.99
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.35	$1.41
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.47	$2.11
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.7	$15.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.5	$3.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.8	$11.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.41	$2.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.4	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$2.05
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.06	$1.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.79	$0.98
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.98	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.17	$1.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.9	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.56	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.1	$3.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$6.62
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.37	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.05	$1.72
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.54	$2.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.6	$55
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.2	$8.47
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$63.6	$90.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.3	$11.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$59	$58.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$78.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1037	$1263
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$20100	$31401

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	$1542
19 km or 12 mi	Kanata	$2336
87 km or 54 mi	Cornwall	$1677
94 km or 58 mi	Brockville	$2004
124 km or 77 mi	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	$2002
128 km or 80 mi	Mirabel	$1828
130 km or 81 mi	Vaudreuil-Dorion	$1921
138 km or 86 mi	Saint-Jerome	$1805
141 km or 87 mi	Saint-Eustache	$1839
143 km or 89 mi	Kirkland	$1897
144 km or 89 mi	Blainville	$1799
146 km or 90 mi	Sainte-Therese	$1785
147 km or 91 mi	Pointe-Claire	$1908
147 km or 91 mi	Boisbriand	$1751
147 km or 91 mi	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	$1898
147 km or 91 mi	Kingston	$1791
150 km or 93 mi	Le Ray	$1828
152 km or 94 mi	Dorval	$1912
152 km or 94 mi	Chateauguay	$1964
153 km or 95 mi	Laval	$1996
157 km or 98 mi	Saint-Lin-Laurentides	$1773
158 km or 98 mi	Cote-Saint-Luc	$1890
160 km or 100 mi	Mount Royal	$1871
162 km or 101 mi	Watertown	$1686
163 km or 102 mi	Terrebonne	$1849
163 km or 102 mi	Westmount	$1861
166 km or 103 mi	Saint-Constant	$1912
167 km or 104 mi	Montreal	$1954
167 km or 104 mi	Mascouche	$1821
170 km or 106 mi	Saint-Lambert	$1873
170 km or 106 mi	Candiac	$1927
170 km or 106 mi	Longueuil	$1896
171 km or 106 mi	La Prairie	$1960
175 km or 109 mi	Brossard	$2057
176 km or 109 mi	Boucherville	$1878
177 km or 110 mi	Repentigny	$1823
178 km or 111 mi	Varennes	$1845
183 km or 114 mi	L'Assomption	$1740
183 km or 114 mi	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	$1912
185 km or 115 mi	Sainte-Julie	$1884

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1028
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$706
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$749
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$738
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$585
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$661
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$718
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$620
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$676
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$706
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$685
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$612
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$733
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$674
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$742
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$702
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$729
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$674
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$843
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$676
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$690
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$629
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$698
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$630
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$673
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$698
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$650
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$651
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$703
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$708
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$699
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$702
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$771
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$648
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$774