Rome vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Rome	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1718	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4113	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$929	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$1682	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$472	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$164	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1842	$1644
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	92	100
😀 Quality of life	86	78
🏙️ Population	2.75M	24.9M

The cost of living in Rome is 57% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 2624th and 4858th ($1718 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 6th in Italy and China, respectively. Check Italy vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.1 months in Rome compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Rome ranked 1st best city to live in Italy vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 337th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Rome vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Rome vs Shanghai

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

	Rome	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$14.5	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$60.3	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.6	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.2	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$1.67	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.38	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1049	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$701	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2124	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1286	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$130	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$199	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$28.4	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.16%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7056	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3427	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.57	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$36.6	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.2	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.87	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.61	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.71	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.3	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.06	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.1	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.8	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.54	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.1	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.95	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.72	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.29	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.15	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.12	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.68	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.92	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.06	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.17	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.88	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.83	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$51.4	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.3	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$112	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.1	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$71.1	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$85.5	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$502	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9864	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Rome

Distance	City	Cost of living
2.7 km or 1.7 mi	Vatican City	$964
19 km or 12 mi	Frascati	$1562
34 km or 21 mi	Ladispoli	$1504
44 km or 27 mi	Cisterna di Latina	$1324
47 km or 29 mi	Colleferro	$1270
51 km or 32 mi	Anzio	$1289
59 km or 37 mi	Latina	$1250
61 km or 38 mi	Civitavecchia	$1543
65 km or 40 mi	Rieti	$1224
66 km or 41 mi	Viterbo	$1287
76 km or 47 mi	Terni	$1004
78 km or 48 mi	Frosinone	$1046
80 km or 49 mi	Avezzano	$1058
91 km or 56 mi	L'Aquila	$1208
93 km or 58 mi	Terracina	$1340
120 km or 74 mi	Foligno	$1241
132 km or 82 mi	Teramo	$1171
136 km or 84 mi	Perugia	$1100
140 km or 87 mi	Ascoli Piceno	$1128
148 km or 92 mi	Chieti	$1294
156 km or 97 mi	Pescara	$1312
170 km or 106 mi	Aversa	$1101
173 km or 107 mi	Santa Maria Capua Vetere	$1074
174 km or 108 mi	Fermo	$1239
175 km or 109 mi	Macerata	$1133
178 km or 111 mi	Giugliano in Campania	$1231
179 km or 112 mi	Caserta	$1181
181 km or 113 mi	Arezzo	$1267
183 km or 114 mi	Frattamaggiore	$1218
184 km or 115 mi	Siena	$1518
185 km or 115 mi	Campobasso	$955
187 km or 116 mi	Civitanova Marche	$1204
189 km or 117 mi	Naples	$1396
209 km or 130 mi	Ancona	$1270
210 km or 130 mi	Benevento	$1165
213 km or 133 mi	Castellammare di Stabia	$1301
221 km or 137 mi	Avellino	$1061
221 km or 137 mi	Fano	$1229
226 km or 140 mi	Amalfi	$1521
227 km or 141 mi	San Marino City	$1201

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