Saint Petersburg vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Saint Petersburg	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1139	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2793	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$577	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$1013	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$300	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$160	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1316	$1068
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	17 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	85	99
😀 Quality of life	71	76
🏙️ Population	5.65M	24.9M

The cost of living in Saint Petersburg is 0.7% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 4898th and 4880th ($1139 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 5th in Russia and China, respectively. Check Russia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Saint Petersburg compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. Saint Petersburg ranked 2nd best city to live in Russia vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 3542nd and 1178th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$9.18	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$33.8	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.37	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.62	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$3.01	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.36	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$738	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$429	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1362	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$765	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.3	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$120	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$8.01	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.67%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4926	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3068	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.17	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$47.1	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.8	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.89	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.21	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.86	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.75	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.69	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.21	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.74	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.66	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.69	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.78	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.22	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.91	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.43	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.26	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.38	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.2	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.09	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17.1	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.25	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.3	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$132	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$502	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13865	$27610

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	$1081
156 km or 97 mi	Sillamae	$1079
162 km or 101 mi	Imatra	$1467
168 km or 104 mi	Veliky Novgorod	$766
170 km or 105 mi	Lappeenranta	$1448
181 km or 112 mi	Kohtla-Jarve	$1104
185 km or 115 mi	Hamina	$1490
195 km or 121 mi	Kotka	$1478
223 km or 139 mi	Kouvola	$1383
227 km or 141 mi	Savonlinna	$1312
232 km or 144 mi	Rakvere	$1085
254 km or 158 mi	Mikkeli	$1445
262 km or 163 mi	Porvoo	$1521
263 km or 164 mi	Pskov	$758
269 km or 167 mi	Tartu	$1220
280 km or 174 mi	Lahti	$1533
293 km or 182 mi	Kerava	$1673
294 km or 183 mi	Varkaus	$1428
294 km or 183 mi	Jarvenpaa	$1759
295 km or 183 mi	Vantaa	$1843
296 km or 184 mi	Joensuu	$1550
297 km or 184 mi	Tuusula	$1698
299 km or 186 mi	Petrozavodsk	$834
300 km or 186 mi	Helsinki	$1970
302 km or 188 mi	Maardu	$1455
310 km or 192 mi	Nurmijarvi	$1644
310 km or 193 mi	Hyvinkaa	$1531
315 km or 196 mi	Espoo	$1974
317 km or 197 mi	Riihimaki	$1419
318 km or 197 mi	Tallinn	$1594
322 km or 200 mi	Viljandi	$1054
328 km or 204 mi	Kirkkonummi	$1684
342 km or 213 mi	Hameenlinna	$1436
348 km or 216 mi	Lohja	$1391
349 km or 217 mi	Jamsa	$1492
354 km or 220 mi	Jyvaskyla	$1403
356 km or 221 mi	Kuopio	$1525
373 km or 232 mi	Valkeakoski	$1578
374 km or 233 mi	Parnu	$1179
383 km or 238 mi	Raseborg	$1597

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1030
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$708
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$726
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$725
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$798
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$643
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$678
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$581
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$652
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$680
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$658
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$571
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$660
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$645
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$670
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$663
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$636
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$659
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$899
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$651
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$664
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$657
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$627
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$667
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$623
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$693
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$691
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$623
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$644
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$661
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$696
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$693
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$620
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$677
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$684
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$644
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$789