San Antonio vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	San Antonio	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2063	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4604	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$1208	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$1789	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$579	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$125	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4089	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	81	99
😀 Quality of life	91	75
🏙️ Population	1.43M	24.9M

The cost of living in San Antonio is 83% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1874th and 4971st ($2063 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1483rd and 5th in the United States and China, respectively. Check the United States vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2 months in San Antonio compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. San Antonio ranked 42nd best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 170th and 1655th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in San Antonio vs Shanghai

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

	San Antonio	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$17.1	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.1	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.83	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$5.19	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.45	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1308	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$901	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1847	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1394	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$150	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$229	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$75.9	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.27%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4289	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1889	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.31	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$37.4	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.4	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.74	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.09	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.92	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.29	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.2	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.6	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.4	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.18	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.26	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.55	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.19	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.17	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.23	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.5	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.46	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.99	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.72	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.04	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.92	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.95	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$45.3	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.6	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$96.2	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$17.7	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1248	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17470	$27781

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near San Antonio

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Schertz	$2174
30 km or 18 mi	Cibolo	$2175
48 km or 30 mi	New Braunfels	$2221
54 km or 33 mi	Seguin	$2200
74 km or 46 mi	San Marcos	$2229
87 km or 54 mi	Kyle	$2237
93 km or 58 mi	Kerrville	$2165
122 km or 76 mi	Austin	$2444
136 km or 85 mi	Cedar Park	$2171
140 km or 87 mi	Leander	$2187
141 km or 88 mi	Pflugerville	$2115
145 km or 90 mi	Round Rock	$2027
157 km or 98 mi	Georgetown	$2125
161 km or 100 mi	Victoria	$2226
197 km or 122 mi	Copperas Cove	$2083
200 km or 124 mi	Harker Heights	$2059
201 km or 125 mi	Killeen	$1991
210 km or 130 mi	Eagle Pass	$2029
213 km or 132 mi	Piedras Negras	$1009
215 km or 134 mi	Corpus Christi	$1706
216 km or 134 mi	Temple	$2153
221 km or 137 mi	Kingsville	$1883
233 km or 145 mi	Del Rio	$2016
235 km or 146 mi	Laredo	$1736
236 km or 147 mi	Ciudad Acuna	$1017
237 km or 147 mi	Nuevo Laredo	$802
247 km or 153 mi	Bryan	$2000
247 km or 154 mi	College Station	$1913
261 km or 162 mi	Rosenberg	$2114
269 km or 167 mi	Waco	$2285
279 km or 174 mi	Sugar Land	$2071
286 km or 178 mi	Missouri	$2094
293 km or 182 mi	San Angelo	$2762
300 km or 186 mi	Lake Jackson	$2112
300 km or 187 mi	The Woodlands	$2738
303 km or 188 mi	Houston	$2265
308 km or 191 mi	Spring	$2112
309 km or 192 mi	Conroe	$1836
310 km or 193 mi	Pearland	$2150
312 km or 194 mi	Stephenville	$2150

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