San Diego vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	San Diego	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3469	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7890	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$2370	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$4148	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$726	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$179	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5254	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	86	100
😀 Quality of life	93	77
🏙️ Population	1.39M	24.9M

The cost of living in San Diego is 207% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 43rd and 4879th ($3469 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 33rd 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 1.5 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 97th and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in San Diego vs Shanghai infographic

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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	$21.5	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$85.1	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15.1	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.63	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$6.32	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.03	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2499	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2053	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4569	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3654	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$156	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$240	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.43%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9580	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7151	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.49	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$71	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.6	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.26	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.92	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.16	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.5	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.81	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.58	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.26	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.6	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.91	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.3	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$14.9	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$9.97	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.53	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.47	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.1	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$17.9	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$131	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$30.4	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.2	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1745	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$28967	$27624

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	$3195
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3013
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2932
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2972
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2943
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2909
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2996
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$2988
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1210
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2887
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2922
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3066
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1063
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1055
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3215
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2931
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3252
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2930
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3274
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2873
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2681
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2967
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3049
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$2994
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2715
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3057
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2776
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3490
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3075
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2626
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$903
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2671
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3585
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3037
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$3014
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3450
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2539
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2742
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2691
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2782

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1003
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$673
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$696
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$771
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$597
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$612
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$632
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$547
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$648
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$679
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$631
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$634
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$576
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$713
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$621
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$740
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$674
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$601
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$630
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$826
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$622
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$634
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$639
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$597
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$642
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$597
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$664
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$531
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$602
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$618
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$637
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$672
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$663
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$590
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$666
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$659
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$617
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$753