Saint Petersburg vs Shenzhen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Saint Petersburg	Shenzhen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1139	$995
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2793	$2526
🏠 One person rent	$577	$552
🏘️ Family rent	$1013	$975
🍽️ Food expenses	$300	$270
🚐 Transport expenses	$160	$87.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1316	$938
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	17 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	85	95
😀 Quality of life	71	76
🏙️ Population	5.65M	17.5M

The cost of living in Saint Petersburg is 15% more expensive than in Shenzhen. Cities ranked 4898th and 5618th ($1139 vs $995) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 10th 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 Shenzhen. Saint Petersburg ranked 2nd best city to live in Russia vs Shenzhen ranked 4th in China, while ranked 3542nd and 1163rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Saint Petersburg vs Shenzhen

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

	Saint Petersburg	Shenzhen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.18	$3.68
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$33.8	$29.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.37	$5.15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.62	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$3.01	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.36	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$738	$701
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$429	$456
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1362	$1238
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$765	$826
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.3	$35.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$120	$54.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$8.01	$11.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	20.67%	3.45%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4926	$13122
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3068	$6054
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.17	$0.44
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$47.1	$22.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.8	$4.66
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.89	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.21	$1.69
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.86	$1.82
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.25
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.75	$1.76
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12	$16.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.69	$3.65
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$14.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$2.14
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$1.53
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$1.71
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.21	$1.36
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.74	$1.07
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.66	$1.3
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$0.38
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.69	$1.14
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.78	$13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.22	$0.96
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3	$4.24
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.91	$5.62
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.43	$6.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.26	$1.72
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.38	$2.04
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.2	$48.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.09	$7.37
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17.1	$34.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.25	$10.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.3	$39.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$132	$70.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$502	$510
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13865	$21140

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 Shenzhen

Distance	City	Cost of living
28 km or 17 mi	Kowloon	$2396
30 km or 19 mi	Hong Kong	$2663
58 km or 36 mi	Zhuhai	$678
65 km or 40 mi	Dongguan	$694
66 km or 41 mi	Macau	$1734
72 km or 45 mi	Zhongshan	$548
74 km or 46 mi	Huizhou	$638
100 km or 62 mi	Jiangmen	$873
105 km or 65 mi	Guangzhou	$785
112 km or 69 mi	Foshan	$627
134 km or 83 mi	Shanwei	$954
142 km or 88 mi	Kaiping	$858
150 km or 93 mi	Heyuan	$777
164 km or 102 mi	Qingyuan	$801
174 km or 108 mi	Zhaoqing	$807
212 km or 131 mi	Yunfu	$839
228 km or 142 mi	Yangjiang	$908
233 km or 145 mi	Puning	$600
256 km or 159 mi	Shaoguan	$793
262 km or 163 mi	Jieyang	$473
286 km or 178 mi	Shantou	$612
288 km or 179 mi	Meizhou	$682
292 km or 182 mi	Chaozhou	$474
299 km or 186 mi	Wuzhou	$828
303 km or 188 mi	Lianzhou	$766
330 km or 205 mi	Hezhou	$778
337 km or 209 mi	Gaozhou	$802
337 km or 210 mi	Maoming	$797
377 km or 234 mi	Ganzhou	$758
378 km or 235 mi	Chenzhou	$739
401 km or 249 mi	Yulin	$751
405 km or 252 mi	Zhanjiang	$824
415 km or 258 mi	Longyan	$705
428 km or 266 mi	Zhangzhou	$702
460 km or 286 mi	Guigang	$714
464 km or 288 mi	Xiamen	$729
477 km or 297 mi	Haikou	$711
485 km or 301 mi	Kinmen	$892
489 km or 304 mi	Guilin	$528
502 km or 312 mi	Yongzhou	$648