Seattle vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Seattle	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2908	$1136
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7212	$3654
🏠 One person rent	$1829	$602
🏘️ Family rent	$3413	$1527
🍽️ Food expenses	$707	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$161	$116
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$6392	$1905
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	80	100
😀 Quality of life	92	79
🏙️ Population	737K	24.9M

The cost of living in Seattle is 156% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 206th and 4780th ($2908 vs $1136) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 168th 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 1.7 months in Shanghai. Seattle ranked 16th best city to live in the United States vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 102nd and 571st 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	$19.3	$3.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$89.2	$42.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.02	$1.43
☕ Cappuccino	$5.61	$3.61
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.13	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1947	$897
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1538	$461
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3856	$2549
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2943	$1181
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$142	$36.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$220	$56.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$67.4	$16.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.42%	4.28%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7855	$16156
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5704	$8893
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.77	$0.57
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$97.1	$36.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18	$6.13
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.17	$2.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.71	$1.99
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.4	$1.41
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.47	$2.11
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.1	$15.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$3.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.5	$11.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.95	$2.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.82	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.93	$2.05
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.33	$1.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.81	$0.98
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.32	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.63	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.04	$1.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.6	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.79	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.1	$3.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$6.62
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$6.97	$1.72
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.46	$2.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.5	$55
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16.1	$8.47
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$183	$90.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$25.7	$11.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$67.8	$58.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.1	$78.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2227	$1263
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$28179	$31401

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	$2759
11 km or 6.5 mi	Bellevue	$3179
14 km or 8.5 mi	Kirkland	$2901
15 km or 9.2 mi	Tukwila	$2542
15 km or 9.5 mi	Burien	$2512
16 km or 10 mi	Bainbridge Island	$2904
17 km or 10 mi	Shoreline	$3091
17 km or 10 mi	Renton	$2301
17 km or 11 mi	Redmond	$3229
17 km or 11 mi	Kenmore	$2784
19 km or 12 mi	SeaTac	$2489
21 km or 13 mi	Bothell	$2866
22 km or 14 mi	Sammamish	$2743
22 km or 14 mi	Edmonds	$2821
23 km or 14 mi	Issaquah	$2655
24 km or 15 mi	Des Moines	$2512
24 km or 15 mi	Lynnwood	$2769
24 km or 15 mi	Bremerton	$2491
26 km or 16 mi	Kent	$2819
30 km or 19 mi	Mill Creek	$2692
33 km or 20 mi	Federal Way	$2449
34 km or 21 mi	Maple Valley	$2515
35 km or 21 mi	Mukilteo	$2619
35 km or 22 mi	Auburn	$2172
41 km or 25 mi	Everett	$2569
42 km or 26 mi	Tacoma	$2348
46 km or 28 mi	University Place	$2655
48 km or 30 mi	Puyallup	$2774
50 km or 31 mi	Lake Stevens	$2581
51 km or 32 mi	Lakewood	$2417
52 km or 33 mi	Marysville	$2576
57 km or 35 mi	Spanaway	$2307
74 km or 46 mi	Lacey	$2534
76 km or 47 mi	Olympia	$2435
78 km or 48 mi	Sequim	$2609
80 km or 50 mi	Oak Harbor	$2612
90 km or 56 mi	Mount Vernon	$2314
100 km or 62 mi	Port Angeles	$2546
109 km or 68 mi	Centralia	$2577
119 km or 74 mi	Victoria	$2263

Cities near Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1028
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$706
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$749
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$738
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$1020
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$585
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$661
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$718
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$620
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$676
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$686
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$706
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$685
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$612
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$733
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$674
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$742
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$702
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$729
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$674
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$843
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$665
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$676
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$690
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$629
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$698
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$630
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$673
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$698
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$538
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$650
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$651
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$703
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$708
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$699
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$617
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$702
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$771
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$648
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$774