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The Cost Of Living In Shanghai

Wondering about the cost of living in Shanghai? Expats weight in.

vinayakk inquired:

"Am planning to move to Shanghai from mid Jan 2016 and just wanted to evaluate cost of living over there. My office will be at Hitech Park, Zhangjiang and I would be staying somewhere around in a 1 BHK flat or on sharing basis with somebody.

I am not a heavy drinker nor very much a party goer but would be using lot of internet, Phones etc and would avoid cooking on my own.

Information is very less but still I would ask what should be my average salary or how much I would be spending around in a month?

(Approximate costs with plus or minus 2k can be estimated)."

Mister_happy answered:

"Shanghai has just hit the no 1 spopt in Asia for expats to live ... for-expats

So ask for a pay increase and extra for your cost of renting an appartment."

Shanghai Noob added:

"On a lighter note, Shanghai's a massive city and you can live fairly cheaply (public transport, cheap eating, shitloads of places to see but requires basic Chinese) or vastly expensive (driver/ Uber, overpriced fancy restaurants, eating western branded goods and only going to visiting western exhibitions/ theatre/ music)

Or you can go for a mix of the two. As for salary, I don't think I know anyone who took a pay cut to come here and every expat I know gets between 10-45k for rent plus other benefits. But then the people I know don't stay indoors in a Zhangjiang apartment (middle of nowhere) excessively 'using' the internet and their phones.

I appreciate the Mercer ranking as my pay is linked to it but I think it's complete nonsense. Or rather, the basket of goods reflects American family life with zero flexibility/ adaptability or language skills. In Shanghai there's the possibility to live cheaply, in Tokyo or Singapore less so."

Full thread below.

Check out the Shanghai Expat Forums for more info on coping in the 'Hai.