Port Moresby vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Port Moresby	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$572	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1392	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$243	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$405	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$232	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$37.6	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$197	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	16	99
😀 Quality of life	49	75
🏙️ Population	317K	24.9M

The cost of living in Port Moresby is 49% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 8199th and 4971st ($572 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th in Papua New Guinea and China, respectively. Check Papua New Guinea vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in Port Moresby compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Port Moresby ranked 1st best city to live in Papua New Guinea vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 6768th and 1655th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Port Moresby vs Shanghai

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

	Port Moresby	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.2	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$23.2	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.33	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.86	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$1.97	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.67	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$240	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$159	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$430	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$285	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$42	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$64.5	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.9	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.16%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1396	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$864	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.45	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$17.8	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.7	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.04	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.22	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.84	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.23	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.79	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.42	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.58	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.39	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.4	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.29	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.14	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.01	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.03	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.16	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.59	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.29	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$24.4	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.66	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$21.4	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.58	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$33.6	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$68.5	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$147	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4671	$27781

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Port Moresby

Distance	City	Cost of living
306 km or 190 mi	Lae	$558
841 km or 523 mi	Cairns	$1695
1050 km or 652 mi	Jayapura	$506
1088 km or 676 mi	Townsville	$1839
1404 km or 872 mi	Honiara	$1422
1489 km or 925 mi	Auki	$1422
1586 km or 986 mi	Rockhampton	$1635
1656 km or 1029 mi	Gladstone	$1640
1734 km or 1077 mi	Manokwari	$494
1796 km or 1116 mi	Bundaberg	$1727
1810 km or 1125 mi	Darwin	$1861
1859 km or 1155 mi	Hervey Bay	$1864
2003 km or 1244 mi	Sorong	$506
2008 km or 1248 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1835
2026 km or 1259 mi	Caloundra	$1864
2049 km or 1273 mi	Caboolture	$1988
2071 km or 1287 mi	Toowoomba	$1766
2093 km or 1301 mi	Brisbane	$2269
2101 km or 1306 mi	Ipswich	$1813
2119 km or 1317 mi	Alice Springs	$1590
2157 km or 1341 mi	Southport	$2352
2163 km or 1344 mi	Gold Coast	$2528
2192 km or 1362 mi	Ambon	$506
2235 km or 1389 mi	Byron Bay	$2703
2273 km or 1413 mi	Luganville	$2062
2276 km or 1414 mi	Baucau	$512
2342 km or 1455 mi	Melekeok	$1176
2343 km or 1456 mi	Ngerulmud	$1175
2371 km or 1473 mi	Dili	$522
2376 km or 1477 mi	Ainaro	$513
2384 km or 1481 mi	Armidale	$1288
2397 km or 1489 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172
2403 km or 1493 mi	Yaren	$783
2407 km or 1496 mi	Maliana	$514
2461 km or 1529 mi	Port Vila	$2068
2470 km or 1535 mi	Ternate	$437
2487 km or 1545 mi	Paita	$1865
2495 km or 1550 mi	Dumbea	$1865
2502 km or 1554 mi	Noumea	$1928
2512 km or 1561 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796

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