San Diego vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	San Diego	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3507	$1126
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7962	$3097
🏠 One person rent	$2395	$600
🏘️ Family rent	$4150	$1068
🍽️ Food expenses	$737	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$179	$108
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5553	$879
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	86	99
😀 Quality of life	91	75
🏙️ Population	1.39M	24.9M

The cost of living in San Diego is 211% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 50th and 4971st ($3507 vs $1126) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 38th 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 1.6 months in San Diego compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. San Diego ranked 26th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 137th 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 Diego vs Shanghai

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

	San Diego	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$22.1	$5.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$86.3	$36.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.74	$1.69
☕ Cappuccino	$6.24	$3.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.1	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2519	$803
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2068	$486
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4514	$1462
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3653	$880
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$165	$37.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$253	$58.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71.6	$13
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.5%	3.34%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8566	$14215
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6843	$7113
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.51	$0.47
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72	$30.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.6	$6.45
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$1.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.98	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.95	$1.3
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.16	$1.79
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$3.91
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.9	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.33	$2.35
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.22	$1.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.8	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.67	$0.89
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.61	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.26	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.7	$12.5
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.8	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.2	$3.46
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$14.9	$6.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$9.99	$6.91
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.5	$2.07
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.48	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$62.9	$61.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$18.2	$7.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$131	$94.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$30.3	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$63	$50.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$109	$78.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1998	$1114
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$26517	$27781

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3220
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3053
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2995
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2995
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2963
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2933
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$3033
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3040
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1295
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2948
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2995
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3243
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1141
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1138
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3261
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2995
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3245
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2976
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3251
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2927
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2676
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2963
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3070
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$3030
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2758
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3085
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2815
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3513
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3122
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2621
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$968
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2669
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3544
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3027
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2980
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3449
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2554
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2767
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2697
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2804

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