Reykjavik vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Reykjavik	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2938	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5875	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$1801	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$2674	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$827	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$90.1	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3761	$1644
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	4 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	53	100
😀 Quality of life	89	78
🏙️ Population	140K	24.9M

The cost of living in Reykjavik is 168% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 200th and 4858th ($2938 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Iceland and China, respectively. Check Iceland vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Reykjavik compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Reykjavik ranked 1st best city to live in Iceland vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 194th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Reykjavik vs Shanghai infographic

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

Prices in Reykjavik vs Shanghai

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

	Reykjavik	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.5	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$137	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$17.9	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$10.8	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$5.37	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.09	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1839	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1650	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2869	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2456	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$42.1	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$64.6	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71.4	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.41%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6649	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5599	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$4.52	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$75.8	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$26.4	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.23	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.66	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.74	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.24	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.94	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.8	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.9	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$37	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.94	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.73	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.73	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.69	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$21.6	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.26	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.3	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.23	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.55	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.2	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$73.2	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.9	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$82.2	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$45.6	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$128	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$162	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$279	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2532	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Reykjavik

Distance	City	Cost of living
6.8 km or 4.2 mi	Kopavogur	$2802
9.8 km or 6.1 mi	Hafnarfjorur	$2817
38 km or 24 mi	Keflavik	$2355
247 km or 153 mi	Akureyri	$2678
795 km or 494 mi	Torshavn	$1828
1204 km or 748 mi	Inverness	$1722
1230 km or 764 mi	Elgin	$1393
1300 km or 808 mi	Derry	$1390
1309 km or 813 mi	Greenock	$1601
1321 km or 821 mi	Aberdeen	$1614
1325 km or 823 mi	Perth	$1500
1328 km or 825 mi	Stirling	$1604
1331 km or 827 mi	Paisley	$1765
1333 km or 828 mi	Alloa	$1649
1337 km or 831 mi	Glasgow	$2011
1339 km or 832 mi	Dundee	$1482
1340 km or 833 mi	Omagh	$1562
1341 km or 833 mi	Cumbernauld	$1475
1342 km or 834 mi	Irvine	$1551
1348 km or 838 mi	East Kilbride	$1763
1349 km or 838 mi	Kilmarnock	$1480
1351 km or 839 mi	Dunfermline	$1692
1353 km or 841 mi	Hamilton	$1699
1357 km or 843 mi	Ayr	$1404
1360 km or 845 mi	Kirkcaldy	$1610
1365 km or 848 mi	Livingston	$1608
1372 km or 852 mi	Edinburgh	$2140
1382 km or 859 mi	Newtownabbey	$1692
1387 km or 862 mi	Belfast	$1755
1390 km or 864 mi	Bangor	$1382
1391 km or 864 mi	Lisburn	$1713
1401 km or 871 mi	Alesund	$1603
1413 km or 878 mi	Galway	$2297
1425 km or 886 mi	Dundalk	$1767
1431 km or 889 mi	Dumfries	$1246
1433 km or 891 mi	Nuuk	$2031
1441 km or 895 mi	Molde	$1813
1454 km or 903 mi	Kristiansund	$1700
1455 km or 904 mi	Drogheda	$2628
1455 km or 904 mi	Bergen	$2006

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$984
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$665
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$700
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$868
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$573
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$631
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$645
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$602
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$640
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$670
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$670
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$657
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$590
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$708
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$643
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$716
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$695
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$702
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$644
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$805
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$643
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$654
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$603
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$650
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$607
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$644
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$665
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$522
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$620
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$621
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$642
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$677
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$665
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$592
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$672
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$621
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$746