Medan vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Medan	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$519	$1136
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1426	$3654
🏠 One person rent	$204	$602
🏘️ Family rent	$428	$1527
🍽️ Food expenses	$191	$293
🚐 Transport expenses	$44.4	$116
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$315	$1905
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	52	100
😀 Quality of life	43	79
🏙️ Population	2.11M	24.9M

The cost of living in Medan is 54% less expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 8536th and 4780th ($519 vs $1136) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 38th and 6th in Indonesia and China, respectively. Check Indonesia vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Medan compared to 1.7 months in Shanghai. Medan ranked 14th best city to live in Indonesia vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 6659th and 571st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Medan vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Medan vs Shanghai

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

	Medan	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.65	$3.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$11.3	$42.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.08	$5.51
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.02	$1.43
☕ Cappuccino	$1.84	$3.61
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.45	$0.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$190	$897
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$116	$461
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$456	$2549
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$302	$1181
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$42.9	$36.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$65	$56.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$29.7	$16.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	10.53%	4.28%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1907	$16156
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$661	$8893
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.33	$0.57
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.09	$36.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.27	$6.13
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.84	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.42	$2.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.26	$1.99
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$1.41
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.61	$2.11
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.71	$15.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.09	$3.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.21	$11.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.88	$2.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$2.05
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.01	$1.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.8	$0.98
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.39	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.25	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.21	$1.32
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.8	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.31	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.1	$3.51
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.18	$6.62
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.62	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.89	$1.72
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.83	$2.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29.4	$55
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.4	$8.47
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.9	$90.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.98	$11.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.5	$58.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$125	$78.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$85.2	$1263
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11482	$31401

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Medan

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Binjai	$503
67 km or 41 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$504
90 km or 56 mi	Pematangsiantar	$518
119 km or 74 mi	Langsa	$490
148 km or 92 mi	Tanjungbalai	$538
238 km or 148 mi	Lhokseumawe	$461
264 km or 164 mi	Teluk Intan	$673
264 km or 164 mi	Taiping	$759
264 km or 164 mi	Padangsidempuan	$624
268 km or 166 mi	George Town	$669
269 km or 167 mi	Butterworth	$671
286 km or 178 mi	Ipoh	$670
298 km or 185 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
307 km or 191 mi	Gunungsitoli	$613
317 km or 197 mi	Klang	$729
322 km or 200 mi	Ko Lipe	$742
324 km or 201 mi	Langkawi	$594
325 km or 202 mi	Shah Alam	$687
331 km or 206 mi	Alor Setar	$523
332 km or 206 mi	Subang Jaya	$732
332 km or 206 mi	Petaling Jaya	$738
341 km or 212 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$892
342 km or 212 mi	Cyberjaya	$617
345 km or 215 mi	Putrajaya	$571
352 km or 219 mi	Kangar	$563
378 km or 235 mi	Seremban	$630
381 km or 237 mi	Dumai	$585
422 km or 262 mi	Hat Yai	$561
426 km or 265 mi	Banda Aceh	$421
431 km or 268 mi	Malacca	$699
445 km or 277 mi	Ko Lanta	$799
466 km or 289 mi	Pekanbaru	$590
468 km or 291 mi	Muar	$752
470 km or 292 mi	Phuket	$985
483 km or 300 mi	Kota Bharu	$517
487 km or 303 mi	Ao Nang	$822
489 km or 304 mi	Krabi	$807
515 km or 320 mi	Batu Pahat	$750
518 km or 322 mi	Kuantan	$518
529 km or 329 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$544

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