Raleigh vs Suzhou - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Raleigh	Suzhou
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2265	$798
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5273	$2386
🏠 One person rent	$1374	$290
🏘️ Family rent	$2201	$499
🍽️ Food expenses	$624	$284
🚐 Transport expenses	$89.7	$117
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4362	$1351
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	14 km	19 km
🎓 Higher education	82	65
😀 Quality of life	89	74
🏙️ Population	468K	12.7M

The cost of living in Raleigh is 184% more expensive than in Suzhou. Cities ranked 1363rd and 6776th ($2265 vs $798) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1143rd and 29th 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 1.7 months in Suzhou. Raleigh ranked 54th best city to live in the United States vs Suzhou ranked 10th in China, while ranked 219th and 2020th 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 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	$18.3	$4.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$69.7	$31.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$5.58
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.64	$2.19
☕ Cappuccino	$6.08	$3.57
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.82	$0.76
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1531	$402
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1084	$172
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2619	$722
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1754	$314
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$138	$60.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$211	$92.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$63.1	$11.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.17%	3.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3898	$5286
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2197	$2709
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.42	$0.33
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$47.7	$44.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.4	$4.64
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.81	$1.2
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.94	$2.01
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.23	$2.07
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.67	$1.26
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.61	$1.8
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$22.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.3	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.3	$8.83
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.38	$1.9
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$1.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.7	$1.4
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.76	$1.59
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.01	$0.63
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$1.23
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.65	$2.09
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.4	$10.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.96	$1.06
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.18	$4.45
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.2	$9.3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.45	$4.65
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.97	$1.26
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$2.17
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.7	$33.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$5.87
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$127	$82.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.8	$8.02
👖 Brand Jeans	$52.7	$51.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$82.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1475	$1049
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24243	$20341

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 Suzhou

Distance	City	Cost of living
35 km or 22 mi	Kunshan	$726
40 km or 25 mi	Changshu	$678
43 km or 27 mi	Wuxi	$686
49 km or 31 mi	Taicang	$708
63 km or 39 mi	Jiaxing	$596
64 km or 40 mi	Zhangjiagang	$652
69 km or 43 mi	Huzhou	$680
75 km or 47 mi	Jiangyin	$658
76 km or 47 mi	Yixing	$663
80 km or 50 mi	Nantong	$581
82 km or 51 mi	Shanghai	$1147
83 km or 52 mi	Changzhou	$636
84 km or 52 mi	Haimen	$643
85 km or 53 mi	Jingjiang	$645
88 km or 55 mi	Pudong	$1030
109 km or 68 mi	Liyang	$657
112 km or 70 mi	Taixing	$651
114 km or 71 mi	Qidong	$725
120 km or 75 mi	Rugao	$659
123 km or 77 mi	Guangde	$667
125 km or 78 mi	Hangzhou	$899
125 km or 78 mi	Danyang	$623
129 km or 80 mi	Yangzhong	$627
137 km or 85 mi	Hai'an	$664
145 km or 90 mi	Shaoxing	$670
148 km or 92 mi	Taizhou	$693
149 km or 93 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
156 km or 97 mi	Jurong	$644
164 km or 102 mi	Yangzhou	$623
173 km or 107 mi	Ningguo	$661
175 km or 109 mi	Yizheng	$620
175 km or 109 mi	Dongtai	$691
182 km or 113 mi	Xuancheng	$684
182 km or 113 mi	Ningbo	$660
194 km or 120 mi	Nanjing	$789
196 km or 122 mi	Xinghua	$693
198 km or 123 mi	Gaoyou	$644
202 km or 125 mi	Zhoushan	$571
214 km or 133 mi	Wuhu	$671
216 km or 134 mi	Tianchang	$635