Seattle vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Seattle	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2974	$1190
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7082	$3757
🏠 One person rent	$1895	$635
🏘️ Family rent	$3327	$1613
🍽️ Food expenses	$708	$308
🚐 Transport expenses	$169	$117
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$6506	$1455
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	80	100
😀 Quality of life	90	78
🏙️ Population	737K	24.9M

The cost of living in Seattle is 150% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 145th and 4461st ($2974 vs $1190) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 120th 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 1.2 months in Shanghai. Seattle ranked 19th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 125th and 558th 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	$18.6	$4.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$85	$40.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.1	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.28	$1.7
☕ Cappuccino	$5.9	$3.83
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.25	$0.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2036	$901
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1598	$497
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3765	$2595
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2858	$1269
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$144	$39.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$222	$60.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.8	$17.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.59%	4.77%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9273	$17366
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5449	$9346
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.73	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$96.4	$37.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.5	$6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.3	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.14	$2.55
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.63	$2.02
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.63	$1.47
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.6	$2.21
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16	$18.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$4.12
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.1	$12.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.98	$2.27
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$1.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.79	$1.97
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.73	$1.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.91	$0.96
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.35	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.43	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.1	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16	$14.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.05	$0.9
🚬 Cigarette pack	$11.9	$3.45
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$6.43
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.02	$7.06
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$6.93	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.54	$2
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$62.1	$69.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$8.16
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$177	$89.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.1	$12
👖 Brand Jeans	$62.5	$66.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$95.4	$78.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1999	$1283
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$29730	$28143

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	$2814
11 km or 6.5 mi	Bellevue	$3345
14 km or 8.5 mi	Kirkland	$2920
15 km or 9.2 mi	Tukwila	$2514
15 km or 9.5 mi	Burien	$2507
16 km or 10 mi	Bainbridge Island	$2810
17 km or 10 mi	Shoreline	$3118
17 km or 10 mi	Renton	$2157
17 km or 11 mi	Redmond	$3262
17 km or 11 mi	Kenmore	$2728
19 km or 12 mi	SeaTac	$2463
21 km or 13 mi	Bothell	$2729
22 km or 14 mi	Sammamish	$2758
22 km or 14 mi	Edmonds	$2837
23 km or 14 mi	Issaquah	$2651
24 km or 15 mi	Des Moines	$2549
24 km or 15 mi	Lynnwood	$2750
24 km or 15 mi	Bremerton	$2313
26 km or 16 mi	Kent	$2827
30 km or 19 mi	Mill Creek	$2663
33 km or 20 mi	Federal Way	$2587
34 km or 21 mi	Maple Valley	$2585
35 km or 21 mi	Mukilteo	$2627
35 km or 22 mi	Auburn	$2597
41 km or 25 mi	Everett	$2604
42 km or 26 mi	Tacoma	$2830
46 km or 28 mi	University Place	$2652
48 km or 30 mi	Puyallup	$2733
50 km or 31 mi	Lake Stevens	$2593
51 km or 32 mi	Lakewood	$2461
52 km or 33 mi	Marysville	$2585
57 km or 35 mi	Spanaway	$2402
74 km or 46 mi	Lacey	$2546
76 km or 47 mi	Olympia	$2500
78 km or 48 mi	Sequim	$2576
80 km or 50 mi	Oak Harbor	$2588
90 km or 56 mi	Mount Vernon	$2255
100 km or 62 mi	Port Angeles	$2451
109 km or 68 mi	Centralia	$2470
119 km or 74 mi	Victoria	$2210

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1074
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$731
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$771
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$763
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$596
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$682
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$731
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$651
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$678
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$687
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$699
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$688
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$690
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$677
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$675
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$755
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$707
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$713
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$682
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$831
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$679
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$694
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$625
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$707
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$625
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$703
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$524
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$631
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$645
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$720
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$725
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$696
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$719
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$789
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$652
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$740