Sendai vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Sendai	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1069	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2571	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$460	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$750	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$374	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$122	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1516	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	72	100
😀 Quality of life	90	77
🏙️ Population	1.06M	24.9M

The cost of living in Sendai is 5% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 5094th and 4879th ($1069 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 139th and 5th in Japan and China, respectively. Check Japan vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Sendai compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Sendai ranked 7th best city to live in Japan vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 242nd and 1383rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Sendai vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Sendai vs Shanghai

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

	Sendai	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$6.27	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$33.1	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.59	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.32	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$3.84	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.54	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$497	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$282	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$798	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$503	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$102	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$155	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$33.2	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.98%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2230	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1261	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.66	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$46.4	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.6	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.1	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.37	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.15	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.6	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.75	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.54	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.18	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.13	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.16	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.8	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.54	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.49	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.28	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.88	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.63	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.67	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.33	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.32	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$52	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.8	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.3	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.8	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$48.5	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$303	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5899	$27624

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Sendai

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Natori	$989
12 km or 7.2 mi	Rifu	$992
12 km or 7.5 mi	Tagajo	$986
14 km or 8.7 mi	Tomiya	$988
14 km or 8.9 mi	Shiogama	$989
18 km or 11 mi	Iwanuma	$983
20 km or 12 mi	Taiwa	$988
25 km or 16 mi	Shibata	$972
26 km or 16 mi	Watari	$979
27 km or 17 mi	Ogawara	$969
33 km or 21 mi	Kakuda	$966
34 km or 21 mi	Kami	$995
35 km or 21 mi	Higashimatsushima	$997
35 km or 22 mi	Misato	$992
35 km or 22 mi	Osaki	$994
37 km or 23 mi	Shiroishi	$951
42 km or 26 mi	Ishinomaki	$1002
44 km or 27 mi	Tendo	$955
45 km or 28 mi	Higashine	$967
47 km or 29 mi	Yamagata	$953
49 km or 30 mi	Murayama	$972
53 km or 33 mi	Soma	$969
53 km or 33 mi	Kurihara	$1001
53 km or 33 mi	Sagae	$959
54 km or 34 mi	Kaminoyama	$938
55 km or 34 mi	Tome	$1001
57 km or 35 mi	Date	$921
66 km or 41 mi	Fukushima	$929
66 km or 41 mi	Takahata	$950
67 km or 42 mi	Nan'yo	$951
70 km or 44 mi	Minamisoma	$980
74 km or 46 mi	Shinjo	$1006
75 km or 46 mi	Nagai	$964
77 km or 48 mi	Yonezawa	$959
77 km or 48 mi	Ichinoseki	$1010
85 km or 53 mi	Nihonmatsu	$942
94 km or 58 mi	Kesennuma	$1011
94 km or 58 mi	Motomiya	$963
96 km or 59 mi	Tamura	$977
100 km or 62 mi	Oshu	$1013

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