Philadelphia vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Philadelphia	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2597	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5854	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$1508	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$2200	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$733	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$194	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4443	$1068
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	100	99
😀 Quality of life	91	76
🏙️ Population	1.6M	24.9M

The cost of living in Philadelphia is 126% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 741st and 4880th ($2597 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 652nd and 5th 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 1.7 months in Philadelphia compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. Philadelphia ranked 22nd best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 118th and 1178th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Philadelphia vs Shanghai

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

	Philadelphia	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$22	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$79.2	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.6	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.98	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$5.23	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.03	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1607	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1212	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2381	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1784	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$146	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$225	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.27%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4124	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1892	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.88	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$99.7	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.2	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.96	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.43	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.41	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.91	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.31	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.8	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.95	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.02	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.12	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.55	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.15	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.67	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.72	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.24	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.1	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.27	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.98	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.04	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.34	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$68.9	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$84.7	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$29	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$49.4	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$99.4	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2213	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$20275	$27610

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Philadelphia

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.2 km or 3.2 mi	Camden	$2624
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Pennsauken Township	$2614
12 km or 7.1 mi	Cherry Hill	$2710
12 km or 7.7 mi	West Deptford Township	$2620
16 km or 9.9 mi	Fox Chase	$2395
16 km or 9.9 mi	Deptford Township	$2626
19 km or 12 mi	Moorestown	$2543
21 km or 13 mi	Gloucester Township	$2622
21 km or 13 mi	Chester	$2498
22 km or 14 mi	Mount Laurel	$2543
25 km or 15 mi	Evesham Township	$2581
25 km or 16 mi	Willingboro Township	$2567
31 km or 19 mi	Medford	$2579
35 km or 22 mi	Levittown	$2359
35 km or 22 mi	Winslow Township	$2623
36 km or 23 mi	Monroe Township	$2636
38 km or 23 mi	West Chester	$2849
40 km or 25 mi	Wilmington	$2458
46 km or 28 mi	Trenton	$2314
46 km or 29 mi	Ewing Township	$2623
50 km or 31 mi	Hamilton Township	$2525
52 km or 32 mi	Pottstown	$2331
54 km or 33 mi	Lawrence Township	$2685
56 km or 35 mi	Vineland	$2635
58 km or 36 mi	Newark	$2222
59 km or 36 mi	Bridgeton	$2662
62 km or 38 mi	Princeton	$3031
63 km or 39 mi	Millville	$2636
64 km or 39 mi	East Windsor Township	$2740
65 km or 40 mi	Plainsboro Township	$2820
67 km or 42 mi	Montgomery Township	$2825
67 km or 42 mi	Manchester Township	$2754
71 km or 44 mi	Jackson Township	$2795
72 km or 45 mi	South Brunswick	$2842
77 km or 48 mi	Allentown	$2313
77 km or 48 mi	Bethlehem	$2333
77 km or 48 mi	Hillsborough Township	$2897
78 km or 48 mi	Reading	$2221
78 km or 49 mi	Barnegat Township	$2656
79 km or 49 mi	Manalapan Township	$2737

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1030
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$708
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$726
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$725
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$798
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$643
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$678
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$581
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$652
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$680
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$658
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$571
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$660
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$645
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$670
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$663
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$636
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$659
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$899
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$651
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$664
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$657
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$627
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$667
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$623
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$693
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$691
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$623
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$644
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$661
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$696
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$693
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$620
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$677
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$684
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$644
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$789