Beijing vs Shanghai
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Cost of living
Living in Shanghai is about 7% more expensive than in Beijing.
Real buying power
In Shanghai, your money buys 1% more than in Beijing.
To live like in Beijing, you need about 11,298 CNY net in Shanghai.
net / month
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Beijing monthly savings
$-33
-2% of net
Shanghai monthly savings
$110
7% of net
Cost breakdown (USD / month)
| Beijing | Shanghai | |
|---|---|---|
| 1-bed apartment, centre | $952 | $883 |
| 1-bed apartment, outside centre | $534 | $545 |
| 3-bed apartment, centre | $2,139 | $2,263 |
| Room in shared flat | $400 | $414 |
| Buy price per m2 | $11,726 | $13,241 |
| Living cost excl. rent | $544 | $580 |
| net / month | $1,463 | $1,573 |
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Create free accountHow we calculate and where the data comes from
Educational model, not financial, tax or relocation advice. Figures are estimates for 2026 and are rounded to ranges, never exact values. Our cost index is built from open data and adapted by CrawlJobs (aggregated and reweighted); it is not endorsed by the sources.
Sources: Eurostat (free reuse, Commission Decision 2011/833/EU), World Bank Open Data ICP (CC-BY-4.0), US BEA / HUD / Census (public domain), GeoNames (CC-BY-4.0). Source and product names are used for attribution only; no affiliation or endorsement is implied.