Brussels vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Brussels	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1958	$1136
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4780	$3654
🏠 One person rent	$1120	$602
🏘️ Family rent	$1989	$1527
🍽️ Food expenses	$598	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$91.6	$116
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3047	$1905
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	96	100
😀 Quality of life	89	79
🏙️ Population	196K	24.9M

The cost of living in Brussels is 72% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 1988th and 4780th ($1958 vs $1136) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Belgium and China, respectively. Check Belgium vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Brussels compared to 1.7 months in Shanghai. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 173rd and 571st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brussels vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Brussels vs Shanghai

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

	Brussels	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$20.8	$3.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76	$42.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$13.1	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.51	$1.43
☕ Cappuccino	$4.14	$3.61
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.03	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1032	$897
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$881	$461
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2055	$2549
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1606	$1181
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$151	$36.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$236	$56.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$57.4	$16.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.71%	4.28%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4722	$16156
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4382	$8893
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.69	$0.57
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$55.1	$36.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$26.1	$6.13
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.93	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.62	$2.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.64	$1.99
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.83	$1.41
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.46	$2.11
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.8	$15.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.5	$3.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.9	$11.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.74	$2.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.21	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$2.05
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.17	$1.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.28	$0.98
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.16	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.89	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.59	$1.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.86	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.45	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.1	$3.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$6.62
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.87	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.03	$1.72
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.98	$2.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.6	$55
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.5	$8.47
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$41.1	$90.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$25.5	$11.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$103	$58.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$117	$78.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1059	$1263
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$23380	$31401

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brussels

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	Schaerbeek	$1752
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1633
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1734
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1712
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1657
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1691
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1715
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1738
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1675
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1799
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1723
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$1911
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1701
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1636
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1702
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1708
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1619
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1696
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1691
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1661
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1693
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1660
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1779
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1761
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1592
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1595
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1630
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1616
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1555
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1593
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1611
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1514
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1598
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1616
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1545
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1592
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1667
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1709
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1560
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1762

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