San Salvador vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	San Salvador	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1291	$1147
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2925	$3146
🏠 One person rent	$734	$636
🏘️ Family rent	$1288	$1119
🍽️ Food expenses	$369	$279
🚐 Transport expenses	$87.6	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$378	$1068
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	8 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	41	99
😀 Quality of life	56	76
🏙️ Population	331K	24.9M

The cost of living in San Salvador is 13% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 4553rd and 4880th ($1291 vs $1147) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 5th in El Salvador and China, respectively. Check El Salvador vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in San Salvador compared to 0.9 months in Shanghai. San Salvador ranked 1st best city to live in El Salvador vs Shanghai ranked 5th in China, while ranked 6244th and 1178th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in San Salvador vs Shanghai

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

	San Salvador	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$7.29	$4.42
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$37.2	$30.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.27	$5.19
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2	$1.44
☕ Cappuccino	$4.19	$3.21
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.24	$0.57
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$746	$849
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$590	$520
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1319	$1495
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1089	$937
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$75	$38.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$116	$59.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$37.6	$11.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	8.49%	3.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2803	$14068
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1836	$6729
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$0.54
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$18.8	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$27.9	$5.76
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.08	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.85	$2.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.22	$1.81
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.64	$1.87
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.87	$16.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.52	$3.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.08	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.61	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.9	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$1.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$0.94
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$0.45
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.15	$1.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.4	$11.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.05	$2.95
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.1	$6.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.05	$7.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.77	$2.11
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.42	$2.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$31.6	$70.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.28	$8.79
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$39	$98.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$8	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$65.4	$46.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$120	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$161	$1268
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4732	$27610

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near San Salvador

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.2 km or 3.2 mi	Mejicanos	$1254
6.1 km or 3.8 mi	Soyapango	$1261
11 km or 6.8 mi	Santa Tecla	$1183
11 km or 7 mi	Apopa	$1231
49 km or 30 mi	Santa Ana	$770
57 km or 35 mi	Sonsonate	$905
75 km or 46 mi	Ahuachapan	$1476
89 km or 55 mi	Usulutan	$1123
112 km or 69 mi	San Miguel	$1132
135 km or 84 mi	Jalapa	$1130
172 km or 107 mi	San Miguel Petapa	$1127
176 km or 109 mi	Guatemala City	$1204
185 km or 115 mi	Mixco	$790
187 km or 116 mi	Comayagua	$678
219 km or 136 mi	Tegucigalpa	$909
220 km or 137 mi	Villanueva	$860
235 km or 146 mi	Coban	$935
236 km or 147 mi	San Pedro Sula	$1004
237 km or 147 mi	La Lima	$854
241 km or 150 mi	Panajachel	$951
241 km or 150 mi	El Progreso	$832
250 km or 156 mi	Choloma	$681
253 km or 157 mi	Chinandega	$791
266 km or 165 mi	Mazatenango	$962
273 km or 170 mi	Yoro	$756
277 km or 172 mi	Puerto Cortes	$767
281 km or 174 mi	Quetzaltenango	$871
282 km or 175 mi	Momostenango	$960
287 km or 178 mi	Leon	$759
315 km or 196 mi	Esteli	$716
347 km or 216 mi	La Ceiba	$619
352 km or 219 mi	Jinotega	$503
357 km or 222 mi	Tapachula	$775
361 km or 224 mi	Managua	$788
365 km or 227 mi	Matagalpa	$665
367 km or 228 mi	Flores	$1014
385 km or 239 mi	San Ignacio	$1049
387 km or 240 mi	Masaya	$817
397 km or 247 mi	Belmopan	$1008
402 km or 250 mi	Granada	$706

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1030
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$708
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$726
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$725
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$798
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$643
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$678
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$581
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$652
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$680
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$658
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$571
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$660
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$645
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$670
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$663
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$636
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$659
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$899
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$651
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$664
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$657
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$627
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$667
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$623
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$693
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$691
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$623
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$644
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$661
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$696
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$693
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$620
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$677
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$684
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$644
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$789