Cost of living comparison

China

compared to

Spain

Barcelona vs. Shanghai Cost of Living Summary

Barcelona is 72.5% more expensive than Shanghai.

Restaurants: pay 3.6 times more in Barcelona
Groceries: pay 54.7% more in Barcelona
Transportation: pay 42.1% more in Barcelona
Housing: pay 2.1 times more in Barcelona
Childcare: pay 36.4% less in Barcelona
Entertainment and Sports: pay 34.5% more in Barcelona
Clothing: pay 27.9% more in Barcelona

The cost of restaurants, housing, groceries, transportation, entertainment and sports, and clothing in Barcelona are more expensive than in Shanghai. Notably, restaurants and housing are significantly more expensive in Barcelona.

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Barcelona vs. Shanghai Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Barcelona instead of Shanghai, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 3.6 times more for restaurants

	Shanghai	Barcelona
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.47 CN¥29.94	$17.92 €15.95	+300.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.22 CN¥34.93	$13.44 €11.96	+157.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.60 CN¥4.01	$2.98 €2.65	+397.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.37 CN¥2.47	$1.91 €1.70	+416.4%
Average			+259.6%

Shanghai vs. Barcelona - Cost of restaurants

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pay 54.7% more for groceries

	Shanghai	Barcelona
Bread 1 loaf	$1.98 CN¥13.22	$1.99 €1.78	+1.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.60 CN¥57.52	$8.79 €7.83	+2.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.88 CN¥46.02	$4.83 €4.29	-29.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.70 CN¥11.36	$4.93 €4.39	+190.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.48 CN¥9.89	$4.13 €3.68	+179.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.99 CN¥6.65	$1.37 €1.22	+38.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.77 CN¥5.16	$0.91 €0.81	+18.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 CN¥6.05	$1.20 €1.07	+32.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.77 CN¥5.15	$1.21 €1.08	+57.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.36 CN¥2.40	$0.95 €0.85	+166.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.43 CN¥2.90	$0.99 €0.88	+127.7%
Average			+54.7%

Shanghai vs. Barcelona - Cost of groceries

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pay 42.1% more for transportation

	Shanghai	Barcelona
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.96 CN¥33.21	$6.87 €6.12	+38.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$29.83 CN¥199.59	$25.53 €22.72	-14.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$19,374.76 CN¥130K	$35,271.67 €31,393.06	+82.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.67 CN¥37.92	$14.90 €13.26	+163.0%
Average			+42.1%

Shanghai vs. Barcelona - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.1 times more for housing

	Shanghai	Barcelona
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.55 CN¥70.59	$35.30 €31.42	+234.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,036.96 CN¥6,938.07	$1,671.42 €1,487.62	+61.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$588.71 CN¥3,938.93	$1,296.44 €1,153.88	+120.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$44.06 CN¥294.77	$138.62 €123.38	+214.7%
Average			+109.4%

Shanghai vs. Barcelona - Cost of housing

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pay 36.4% less for childcare

	Shanghai	Barcelona
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,413.50 CN¥9,457.42	$951.83 €847.16	-32.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$27,686.22 CN¥185K	$16,609.14 €14,782.73	-40.0%
Average			-36.4%

Shanghai vs. Barcelona - Cost of childcare

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pay 34.5% more for entertainment and sports

	Shanghai	Barcelona
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.19 CN¥7.98	$3.92 €3.49	+228.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.35 CN¥22.41	$3.23 €2.88	-3.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.73 CN¥24.95	$7.00 €6.23	+87.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$65.69 CN¥439.52	$53.11 €47.27	-19.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.95 CN¥59.88	$11.20 €9.97	+25.1%
Average			+34.5%

Shanghai vs. Barcelona - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 27.9% more for clothing

	Shanghai	Barcelona
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$54.37 CN¥363.79	$87.34 €77.74	+60.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$37.09 CN¥248.19	$39.19 €34.88	+5.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$75.49 CN¥505.08	$105.13 €93.57	+39.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$105.70 CN¥707.25	$119.81 €106.64	+13.3%
Average			+27.9%

Shanghai vs. Barcelona - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

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Size Comparison · See true size

Shanghai is about 63 times bigger than Barcelona.

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