Raleigh vs Suzhou - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Raleigh	Suzhou
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2327	$771
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5471	$2209
🏠 One person rent	$1420	$265
🏘️ Family rent	$2324	$448
🍽️ Food expenses	$628	$292
🚐 Transport expenses	$88.4	$111
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4437	$1127
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	14 km	19 km
🎓 Higher education	82	70
😀 Quality of life	90	71
🏙️ Population	468K	12.7M

The cost of living in Raleigh is 202% more expensive than in Suzhou. Cities ranked 1213th and 6778th ($2327 vs $771) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1060th and 31st 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 1.5 months in Suzhou. Raleigh ranked 60th best city to live in the United States vs Suzhou ranked 23rd in China, while ranked 212th and 3523rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Raleigh vs Suzhou infographic

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Prices in Raleigh vs Suzhou

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

	Raleigh	Suzhou
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.1	$4.17
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$72.4	$42.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.99	$4.91
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.91	$2.54
☕ Cappuccino	$5.22	$3.45
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.35	$1.01
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1434	$328
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1158	$163
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2441	$581
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1941	$291
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$140	$57.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$217	$87.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$66.3	$12.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.34%	3.63%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3119	$5716
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2477	$2955
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.99	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$51.8	$41.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.2	$4.46
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.82	$1.17
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.96	$2.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.77	$2.47
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$1.22
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.3	$1.92
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$20.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$3.65
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.5	$8.05
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.52	$1.99
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.64	$1.58
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.37	$1.36
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.12	$0.67
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.19	$1.16
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.48	$0.33
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.72	$2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.4	$12.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.04	$0.99
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.73	$4.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.26	$8.13
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.25	$4.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.68	$1.21
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.38	$2.04
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.8	$36.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$6.32
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$161	$78.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$26.2	$7.93
👖 Brand Jeans	$54.1	$50.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$72.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1578	$778
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24117	$15339

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	$2289
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2582
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1818
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2225
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2338
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2387
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2331
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2219
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2319
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2171
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$2105
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2071
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$1926
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1812
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2166
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2312
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2124
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1757
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2065
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2112
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2176
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2076
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1993
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2070
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2152
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$2154
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2156
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2079
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$2054
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1893
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2094
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2107
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1734
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$2102
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$1983
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2231
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2395
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2160
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2228
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1766

Cities near Suzhou

Distance	City	Cost of living
35 km or 22 mi	Kunshan	$696
40 km or 25 mi	Changshu	$632
43 km or 27 mi	Wuxi	$679
49 km or 31 mi	Taicang	$673
63 km or 39 mi	Jiaxing	$597
64 km or 40 mi	Zhangjiagang	$648
69 km or 43 mi	Huzhou	$631
75 km or 47 mi	Jiangyin	$634
76 km or 47 mi	Yixing	$674
80 km or 50 mi	Nantong	$547
82 km or 51 mi	Shanghai	$1128
83 km or 52 mi	Changzhou	$601
84 km or 52 mi	Haimen	$612
85 km or 53 mi	Jingjiang	$621
88 km or 55 mi	Pudong	$1003
109 km or 68 mi	Liyang	$639
112 km or 70 mi	Taixing	$622
114 km or 71 mi	Qidong	$696
120 km or 75 mi	Rugao	$630
123 km or 77 mi	Guangde	$642
125 km or 78 mi	Hangzhou	$826
125 km or 78 mi	Danyang	$597
129 km or 80 mi	Yangzhong	$597
137 km or 85 mi	Hai'an	$634
145 km or 90 mi	Shaoxing	$740
148 km or 92 mi	Taizhou	$651
149 km or 93 mi	Zhenjiang	$531
156 km or 97 mi	Jurong	$618
164 km or 102 mi	Yangzhou	$602
173 km or 107 mi	Ningguo	$637
175 km or 109 mi	Yizheng	$590
175 km or 109 mi	Dongtai	$664
182 km or 113 mi	Xuancheng	$659
182 km or 113 mi	Ningbo	$713
194 km or 120 mi	Nanjing	$753
196 km or 122 mi	Xinghua	$663
198 km or 123 mi	Gaoyou	$617
202 km or 125 mi	Zhoushan	$576
214 km or 133 mi	Wuhu	$672
216 km or 134 mi	Tianchang	$610