Seattle vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Seattle	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3015	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7449	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$1896	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$3549	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$746	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$160	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$6742	$1644
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	80	100
😀 Quality of life	91	78
🏙️ Population	737K	24.9M

The cost of living in Seattle is 175% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 158th and 4858th ($3015 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 140th and 6th 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 2.2 months in Seattle compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Seattle ranked 15th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 98th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Seattle vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Seattle vs Shanghai

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

	Seattle	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.9	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$90.4	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$13.6	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.98	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$5.55	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.97	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2086	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1567	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3947	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3067	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$157	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$237	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$68.8	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.44%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6966	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5351	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.73	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$96.7	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.16	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.18	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.03	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.44	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.89	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.4	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.19	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.37	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.76	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.64	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.47	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.56	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.91	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$17.8	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.15	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.95	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$6.98	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.49	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.6	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$183	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$25.9	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$68.9	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2185	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$29407	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Seattle

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.1 km or 5.7 mi	Mercer Island	$2826
11 km or 6.5 mi	Bellevue	$3273
14 km or 8.5 mi	Kirkland	$2882
15 km or 9.2 mi	Tukwila	$2624
15 km or 9.5 mi	Burien	$2642
16 km or 10 mi	Bainbridge Island	$2810
17 km or 10 mi	Shoreline	$2973
17 km or 10 mi	Renton	$2595
17 km or 11 mi	Redmond	$3239
17 km or 11 mi	Kenmore	$2718
19 km or 12 mi	SeaTac	$2741
21 km or 13 mi	Bothell	$2625
22 km or 14 mi	Sammamish	$2759
22 km or 14 mi	Edmonds	$2785
23 km or 14 mi	Issaquah	$2606
24 km or 15 mi	Des Moines	$2623
24 km or 15 mi	Lynnwood	$2726
24 km or 15 mi	Bremerton	$2462
26 km or 16 mi	Kent	$2784
30 km or 19 mi	Mill Creek	$2642
33 km or 20 mi	Federal Way	$2532
34 km or 21 mi	Maple Valley	$2579
35 km or 21 mi	Mukilteo	$2637
35 km or 22 mi	Auburn	$2338
41 km or 25 mi	Everett	$2589
42 km or 26 mi	Tacoma	$2517
46 km or 28 mi	University Place	$2604
48 km or 30 mi	Puyallup	$2644
50 km or 31 mi	Lake Stevens	$2604
51 km or 32 mi	Lakewood	$2449
52 km or 33 mi	Marysville	$2598
57 km or 35 mi	Spanaway	$2460
74 km or 46 mi	Lacey	$2571
76 km or 47 mi	Olympia	$2406
78 km or 48 mi	Sequim	$2692
80 km or 50 mi	Oak Harbor	$2751
90 km or 56 mi	Mount Vernon	$2542
100 km or 62 mi	Port Angeles	$2527
109 km or 68 mi	Centralia	$2523
119 km or 74 mi	Victoria	$2093

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$984
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$665
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$700
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$868
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$573
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$631
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$645
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$602
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$640
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$670
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$670
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$657
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$590
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$708
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$643
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$716
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$695
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$702
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$644
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$805
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$643
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$654
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$603
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$650
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$607
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$644
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$665
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$522
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$620
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$621
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$642
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$677
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$665
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$592
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$672
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$621
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$746