Cost of Living in China

Living expenses in China’s major cities

All statistics are taken in relation to the New York figures to help comparisons, statistics can be found on www.numbeo.com. If we take Shanghai’s CPI of 62.46 for instance, this means that the cost of living in Shanghai is 37.54% cheaper than in New York. The same applies for each statistic – the cost of eating in a restaurant in Shanghai is 48.72% cheaper than New York for example.

City	Consumer Price Index	Rent Index	CPI +Rent Index	Groceries Index	Restaurant Price Index	Local Purchasing Power Index
New York	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Shanghai	62.46	35.34	48.69	66.96	51.28	97.91
Beijing	50.83	39.01	44.83	51.48	39.26	98.94
Hong Kong	74.37	76.08	76.75	55.50	75.23	112.58
Guangzhou	44.01	23.40	33.54	47.21	24.53	121.78
Shenzhen	53.39	32.34	42.70	53.03	42.79	119.58
Tianjin	40.85	12.00	26.20	39.05	29.33	70.16
Xi’an	38.80	12.92	26.66	42.57	25.91	57.31
London	97.85	82.74	90.21	79.46	104.62	102.50
Paris	82.71	47.77	65.04	75.59	85.09	130.18
Sydney	83.40	57.02	70.06	78.24	76.09	151.57

Here is a brief description of what each statistic indicates:

Consumer Price Index - measures changes in the price level of a market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Expensive single item purchases like holidays, fridges and cars are also included in the basket – as are key services like electricity, gas and water.

Rent Index - a measure of the level of rents for dwellings in a geographic area over time. They include a wide variety of properties, from high-end to box flats.

Groceries Index - is an estimation of grocery prices in the city.

Restaurant Index – is an estimation of the cost of meals and drinks in a restaurant.

Local Purchasing Power Index - shows relative purchasing power in buying goods and services in a given city for the average wage in that city, the higher the number the better.

Actual Prices of Goods in China

Product	Average price range in China	Average price in Shanghai	Average price in Beijing	Average price in Hong Kong	Average Price in Guangzhou
Loaf of bread (500g)	$1-2.5	$2.6	$1.5	$2	$1.2
Milk (1 litre)	$1.5-3	$2.8	$2	$3	$1.9
12 eggs	$1.2-3	$2.5	$2	$3	$1.9
Meal for 2, mid-range restaurant, 3 courses	$15-35	$38	$25	$45	$12
Meal at Mcdonalds	$4-6	$5	$4	$4	$5
Coca-Cola (33cl)	$0.4-0.8	$0.5	$0.5	$1	$0.25
1 packet of cigarettes (Marlboro)	$2-3.5	$2.4	$3	$7	$2.75
Starting price of taxi	$1.2-2	$2.25	$2	$3	$1.6
Taxi rate per 1km	$0.3-0.5	$0.4	$0.4	$1	$0.4
1 litre of Gasoline	$1-1.2	$1.1	$1.1	$2.1	$1.3
1 bed apartment in city centre (monthly rent)	$325-$1,050	$1,000	$1,050	$2,200	$750

All prices are measured in US dollars:

$1= £0.65

$1= 0.9 euros

$1 = 6.21 yuan

$1= 7.75 HKD