Saint Petersburg vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Saint Petersburg	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1075	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2604	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$557	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$976	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$284	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$142	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1231	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	17 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	85	99
😀 Quality of life	70	75
🏙️ Population	5.65M	24.9M

The cost of living in Saint Petersburg is 5% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 5142nd and 4971st ($1075 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 5th in Russia and China, respectively. Check Russia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.1 months in Saint Petersburg compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Saint Petersburg ranked 2nd best city to live in Russia vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 3923rd and 1655th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

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	$8.72	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$37.2	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.98	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.51	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$2.61	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.18	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$708	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$423	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1258	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$763	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$68.9	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$107	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$7.69	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	21.48%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4413	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2754	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.04	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$41.5	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.3	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.81	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.17	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.76	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.62	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.3	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.9	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.86	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.94	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.91	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.84	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.66	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.52	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.48	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.53	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.1	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.82	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.67	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.25	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.16	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.21	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.6	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.73	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.1	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.92	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$85.6	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$121	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$436	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12085	$27781

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	$1108
156 km or 97 mi	Sillamae	$1111
162 km or 101 mi	Imatra	$1492
168 km or 104 mi	Veliky Novgorod	$748
170 km or 105 mi	Lappeenranta	$1482
181 km or 112 mi	Kohtla-Jarve	$1131
185 km or 115 mi	Hamina	$1515
195 km or 121 mi	Kotka	$1514
223 km or 139 mi	Kouvola	$1474
227 km or 141 mi	Savonlinna	$1315
232 km or 144 mi	Rakvere	$1021
254 km or 158 mi	Mikkeli	$1454
262 km or 163 mi	Porvoo	$1578
263 km or 164 mi	Pskov	$720
269 km or 167 mi	Tartu	$1232
280 km or 174 mi	Lahti	$1571
293 km or 182 mi	Kerava	$1659
294 km or 183 mi	Varkaus	$1292
294 km or 183 mi	Jarvenpaa	$1750
295 km or 183 mi	Vantaa	$1927
296 km or 184 mi	Joensuu	$1592
297 km or 184 mi	Tuusula	$1693
299 km or 186 mi	Petrozavodsk	$798
300 km or 186 mi	Helsinki	$1990
302 km or 188 mi	Maardu	$1448
310 km or 192 mi	Nurmijarvi	$1673
310 km or 193 mi	Hyvinkaa	$1533
315 km or 196 mi	Espoo	$2062
317 km or 197 mi	Riihimaki	$1426
318 km or 197 mi	Tallinn	$1683
322 km or 200 mi	Viljandi	$1083
328 km or 204 mi	Kirkkonummi	$1753
342 km or 213 mi	Hameenlinna	$1451
348 km or 216 mi	Lohja	$1406
349 km or 217 mi	Jamsa	$1516
354 km or 220 mi	Jyvaskyla	$1443
356 km or 221 mi	Kuopio	$1546
373 km or 232 mi	Valkeakoski	$1621
374 km or 233 mi	Parnu	$1214
383 km or 238 mi	Raseborg	$1606

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1002
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$669
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$782
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$594
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$620
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$644
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$557
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$667
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$683
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$643
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$650
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$584
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$671
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$636
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$680
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$684
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$623
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$646
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$860
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$647
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$652
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$611
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$652
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$604
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$675
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$678
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$525
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$618
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$626
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$644
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$667
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$677
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$601
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$665
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$632
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$765