Ottawa vs Shenzhen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Ottawa	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2122	$995
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4795	$2526
🏠 One person rent	$1248	$552
🏘️ Family rent	$2038	$975
🍽️ Food expenses	$575	$270
🚐 Transport expenses	$167	$87.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3638	$938
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	49	95
😀 Quality of life	91	76
🏙️ Population	1.02M	17.5M

The cost of living in Ottawa is 113% more expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 1688th and 5618th ($2122 vs $995) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 22nd and 10th in Canada and China, respectively. Check Canada vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Ottawa compared to 0.9 months in Shenzhen. Ottawa ranked 8th best city to live in Canada vs Shenzhen ranked 4th in China, while ranked 141st and 1163rd 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 Shenzhen

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

	Ottawa	Shenzhen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.2	$3.68
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$65.6	$29.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.1	$5.15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.79	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$4.28	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.14	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1259	$701
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1072	$456
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2157	$1238
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1775	$826
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.4	$35.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$142	$54.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$45.2	$11.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.27%	3.45%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4527	$13122
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4215	$6054
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.92	$0.44
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$96.3	$22.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.1	$4.66
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.12	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.43	$1.69
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.55	$1.82
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$1.25
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.51	$1.76
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13	$16.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.6	$3.65
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.7	$14.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.89	$2.14
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$1.53
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4	$1.71
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.86	$1.36
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.07
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.9	$1.3
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.03	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.98	$1.14
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.3	$13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.77	$0.96
🚬 Cigarette pack	$14.2	$4.24
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.6	$5.62
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.19	$6.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.94	$1.72
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.36	$2.04
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.9	$48.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.4	$7.37
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.5	$34.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.7	$10.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$64.6	$39.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$102	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$899	$510
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17263	$21140

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	$1839
19 km or 12 mi	Kanata	$2189
87 km or 54 mi	Cornwall	$1674
94 km or 58 mi	Brockville	$1848
124 km or 77 mi	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	$1942
128 km or 80 mi	Mirabel	$1864
130 km or 81 mi	Vaudreuil-Dorion	$1906
138 km or 86 mi	Saint-Jerome	$1832
141 km or 87 mi	Saint-Eustache	$1926
143 km or 89 mi	Kirkland	$1914
144 km or 89 mi	Blainville	$1903
146 km or 90 mi	Sainte-Therese	$1928
147 km or 91 mi	Pointe-Claire	$1915
147 km or 91 mi	Boisbriand	$1913
147 km or 91 mi	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	$1918
147 km or 91 mi	Kingston	$1451
150 km or 93 mi	Le Ray	$1929
152 km or 94 mi	Dorval	$1917
152 km or 94 mi	Chateauguay	$1905
153 km or 95 mi	Laval	$2058
157 km or 98 mi	Saint-Lin-Laurentides	$1772
158 km or 98 mi	Cote-Saint-Luc	$1870
160 km or 100 mi	Mount Royal	$1852
162 km or 101 mi	Watertown	$1816
163 km or 102 mi	Terrebonne	$1863
163 km or 102 mi	Westmount	$1828
166 km or 103 mi	Saint-Constant	$1905
167 km or 104 mi	Montreal	$1901
167 km or 104 mi	Mascouche	$1828
170 km or 106 mi	Saint-Lambert	$1856
170 km or 106 mi	Candiac	$1921
170 km or 106 mi	Longueuil	$1874
171 km or 106 mi	La Prairie	$1937
175 km or 109 mi	Brossard	$2051
176 km or 109 mi	Boucherville	$1861
177 km or 110 mi	Repentigny	$1817
178 km or 111 mi	Varennes	$1829
183 km or 114 mi	L'Assomption	$1702
183 km or 114 mi	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	$1892
185 km or 115 mi	Sainte-Julie	$1875

Cities near Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2396
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2663
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$678
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$694
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1734
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$548
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$638
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$873
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$785
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$627
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$954
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$858
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$777
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$801
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$807
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$839
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$908
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$600
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$793
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$473
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$612
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$682
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$474
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$828
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$766
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$778
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$802
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$797
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$758
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$739
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$751
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$824
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$705
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$702
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$714
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$729
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$711
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$892
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$528
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$648