Raleigh vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Raleigh	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2317	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5372	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$1430	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$2327	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$612	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$90.3	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4411	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	14 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	82	99
😀 Quality of life	89	75
🏙️ Population	468K	24.9M

The cost of living in Raleigh is 106% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1246th and 4971st ($2317 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1054th 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 0.8 months in Shanghai. Raleigh ranked 64th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 245th and 1655th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$72.5	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.67	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$6.02	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.48	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1562	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1149	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2603	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1919	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$207	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.1	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.42%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3603	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2208	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.68	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$48.1	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.3	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.97	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.39	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.78	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.45	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.4	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.8	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.47	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.98	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.45	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.46	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.63	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.92	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.71	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.6	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.44	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.97	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.73	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.2	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$137	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.8	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$54.3	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1374	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24650	$27781

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	$2246
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2470
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1831
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2194
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2278
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2313
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2242
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2109
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2308
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2111
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$1943
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2003
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$1780
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1773
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2123
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2159
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2081
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1750
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2036
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2056
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2088
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2057
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1917
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2030
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2202
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$1987
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2079
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2122
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$2001
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1847
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2080
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2027
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1814
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$1963
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$1969
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2211
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2378
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2126
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2174
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1736

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