Shanghai vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Shanghai	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1147	$2844
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3146	$6812
🏠 One person rent	$636	$1756
🏘️ Family rent	$1119	$3107
🍽️ Food expenses	$279	$592
🚐 Transport expenses	$105	$335
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1068	$4188
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	99	99
😀 Quality of life	76	100
🏙️ Population	24.9M	5.45M

The cost of living in Shanghai is 60% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 4880th and 370th ($1147 vs $2844) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 1st in China and Australia, respectively. Check China vs Australia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.9 months in Shanghai compared to 1.5 months in Sydney. Shanghai ranked 5th best city to live in China vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 1178th and 2nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Shanghai vs Sydney

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

	Shanghai	Sydney
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.42	$15.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$30.3	$81.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.19	$11.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.44	$7.3
☕ Cappuccino	$3.21	$3.97
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.57	$2.71
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$849	$2215
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$520	$1420
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1495	$3992
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$937	$2582
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$38.3	$126
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.3	$193
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$11.2	$50.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.19%	5.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$14068	$12962
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6729	$7403
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.54	$3.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$29.4	$117
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.76	$20.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$1.39
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.14	$1.74
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.81	$2.28
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.1	$2.09
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.87	$5.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.7	$13.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.33	$9.72
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13	$15.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.43	$3.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.87	$3.08
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$3.19
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.75	$4.73
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.83	$2.9
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.94	$2.27
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.45	$0.72
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.31	$2.95
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.8	$16.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.9	$4.08
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.95	$28.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.37	$8.18
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.05	$4.65
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$3.58
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.24	$3.34
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$70.6	$66
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.79	$17.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$98.8	$70
💇 Haircut, simple	$12	$21.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$46.1	$77.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$71.7	$111
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1268	$2275
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$27610	$25164

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

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

Cities near Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2354
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2481
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$2040
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1709
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1695
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1995
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1701
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1795
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1460
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2258
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1855
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1786
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1273
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1608
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2132
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1825
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1816
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$2672
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$2000
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2530
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2341
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1936
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1915
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1493
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1720
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1913
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1825
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1810
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1834
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2543
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1933
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1889
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1896
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2323
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1813
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1847
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1992
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$2179
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1606
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1863