Raleigh vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Raleigh	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2265	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5273	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$1374	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$2201	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$624	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$89.7	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4362	$1068
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	14 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	82	99
😀 Quality of life	89	76
🏙️ Population	468K	24.9M

The cost of living in Raleigh is 97% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1363rd and 4880th ($2265 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1143rd 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 1.9 months in Raleigh compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. Raleigh ranked 54th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 219th and 1178th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/raleigh/shanghai.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Raleigh vs Shanghai infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/raleigh/shanghai" target="_blank">Raleigh vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Raleigh vs Shanghai

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

	Raleigh	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.3	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$69.7	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.64	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$6.08	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.82	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1531	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1084	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2619	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1754	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$138	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$211	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$63.1	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.17%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3898	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2197	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.42	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$47.7	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.4	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.81	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.94	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.23	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.67	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.61	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.3	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.38	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.7	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.76	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.01	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.65	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.4	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.96	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.18	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.2	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.45	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.97	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.7	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$127	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.8	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.7	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1475	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24243	$27610

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Raleigh

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.6 mi	Garner	$2229
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2483
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1850
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2169
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2280
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2300
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2241
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2063
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2133
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2116
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$1842
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2016
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$1803
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1766
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2089
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2212
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2059
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1775
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2027
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2055
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2073
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2045
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1909
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2007
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2200
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$1863
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2070
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2105
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$2007
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1849
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2075
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2031
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1851
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$1904
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$2003
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2295
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2375
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2129
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2204
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1729

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