Saint Petersburg vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Saint Petersburg	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$974	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2438	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$497	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$991	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$268	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$116	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$947	$1644
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	17 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	81	100
😀 Quality of life	67	78
🏙️ Population	5.6M	24.9M

The cost of living in Saint Petersburg is 11% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 5668th and 4858th ($974 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 6th in Russia and China, respectively. Check Russia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1 months in Saint Petersburg compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Saint Petersburg ranked 2nd best city to live in Russia vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 3598th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Saint Petersburg vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Saint Petersburg vs Shanghai

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

	Saint Petersburg	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.04	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$43.2	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.08	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.44	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$2.33	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.98	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$622	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$369	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1265	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$775	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$71.4	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$111	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$6.26	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	22.73%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3479	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2360	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.8	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$41.9	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.81	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.66	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.01	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.78	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.71	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.4	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.77	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.18	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.54	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.77	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.66	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.56	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.43	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.19	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.06	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.86	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.5	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.17	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.06	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.24	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.87	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$32	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.14	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$16.9	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.89	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$97.3	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$113	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$353	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7571	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Saint Petersburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
135 km or 84 mi	Narva	$953
156 km or 97 mi	Sillamae	$952
162 km or 101 mi	Imatra	$1095
168 km or 104 mi	Veliky Novgorod	$737
170 km or 105 mi	Lappeenranta	$1295
181 km or 112 mi	Kohtla-Jarve	$973
185 km or 115 mi	Hamina	$1329
195 km or 121 mi	Kotka	$1286
223 km or 139 mi	Kouvola	$1355
227 km or 141 mi	Savonlinna	$1162
232 km or 144 mi	Rakvere	$899
254 km or 158 mi	Mikkeli	$1308
262 km or 163 mi	Porvoo	$1327
263 km or 164 mi	Pskov	$467
269 km or 167 mi	Tartu	$1045
280 km or 174 mi	Lahti	$1398
293 km or 182 mi	Kerava	$1486
294 km or 183 mi	Varkaus	$1051
294 km or 183 mi	Jarvenpaa	$1533
295 km or 183 mi	Vantaa	$1671
296 km or 184 mi	Joensuu	$1471
297 km or 184 mi	Tuusula	$1509
299 km or 186 mi	Petrozavodsk	$550
300 km or 186 mi	Helsinki	$1816
302 km or 188 mi	Maardu	$1219
310 km or 192 mi	Nurmijarvi	$1479
310 km or 193 mi	Hyvinkaa	$1323
315 km or 196 mi	Espoo	$1879
317 km or 197 mi	Riihimaki	$1443
318 km or 197 mi	Tallinn	$1414
322 km or 200 mi	Viljandi	$933
328 km or 204 mi	Kirkkonummi	$1509
342 km or 213 mi	Hameenlinna	$1309
348 km or 216 mi	Lohja	$1220
349 km or 217 mi	Jamsa	$1394
354 km or 220 mi	Jyvaskyla	$1445
356 km or 221 mi	Kuopio	$1382
373 km or 232 mi	Valkeakoski	$1544
374 km or 233 mi	Parnu	$1064
383 km or 238 mi	Raseborg	$1441

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