Raleigh vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Raleigh	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2757	$1190
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6734	$3757
🏠 One person rent	$1795	$635
🏘️ Family rent	$3490	$1613
🍽️ Food expenses	$671	$308
🚐 Transport expenses	$103	$117
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4345	$1455
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	14 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	82	100
😀 Quality of life	87	78
🏙️ Population	468K	24.9M

The cost of living in Raleigh is 132% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 304th and 4461st ($2757 vs $1190) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 266th and 6th 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 1.6 months in Raleigh compared to 1.2 months in Shanghai. Raleigh ranked 58th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 235th and 558th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Raleigh vs Shanghai infographic

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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	$20.1	$4.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$85	$40.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.5	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.28	$1.7
☕ Cappuccino	$5.37	$3.83
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$0.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1793	$901
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1489	$497
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3656	$2595
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3034	$1269
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$162	$39.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$248	$60.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$83.7	$17.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.6%	4.77%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9360	$17366
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4247	$9346
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.29	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$67.9	$37.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.9	$6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.96	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.97	$2.55
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.05	$2.02
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.73	$1.47
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.62	$2.21
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$18.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$4.12
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.8	$12.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.85	$2.27
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.01	$1.97
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.74	$1.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$0.96
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.59	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.92	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.16	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.1	$14.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.8	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.52	$3.45
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$6.43
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.97	$7.06
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.24	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.53	$2
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$51.2	$69.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14	$8.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$159	$89.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.9	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$63.6	$66.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$100	$78.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1470	$1283
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22084	$28143

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	$2334
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2313
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1731
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2271
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2161
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2112
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2163
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2071
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2162
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2159
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$2236
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2063
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$2031
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1787
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2084
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2082
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2084
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1947
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$1855
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2098
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2053
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2020
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$2052
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2056
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2082
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$2105
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2139
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2044
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$2074
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1929
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2112
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2163
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$2056
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$2191
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$2014
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2441
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2229
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2218
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2348
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1857

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1074
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$731
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$771
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$763
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$682
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$731
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$651
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$678
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$687
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$699
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$688
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$690
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$677
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$675
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$755
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$707
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$713
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$682
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$831
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$679
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$694
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$625
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$707
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$625
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$703
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$524
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$631
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$645
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$720
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$725
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$696
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$719
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$789
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$652
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$740