Cost of living comparison

Bulgaria

compared to

China

Shanghai vs. Sofia Cost of Living Summary

Shanghai is 20.0% cheaper than Sofia.

Restaurants: pay 69.0% less in Shanghai
Groceries: pay 21.0% less in Shanghai
Transportation: pay 23.5% less in Shanghai
Housing: pay 6.4% less in Shanghai
Childcare: pay 2.0 times more in Shanghai
Entertainment and Sports: pay 16.4% less in Shanghai
Clothing: pay 21.1% less in Shanghai

Expenses including restaurants, transportation, clothing, groceries, entertainment and sports, and housing are lower in Shanghai. Notably, childcare is significantly more expensive in Shanghai.

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Shanghai vs. Sofia Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 69.0% less for restaurants

	Sofia	Shanghai
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$16.80 BGN29.23	$4.47 CN¥29.94	-73.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.61 BGN20.20	$5.22 CN¥34.93	-55.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.42 BGN4.21	$0.60 CN¥4.01	-75.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.80 BGN3.14	$0.37 CN¥2.47	-79.5%
Average			-69.0%

Sofia vs. Shanghai - Cost of restaurants

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pay 21.0% less for groceries

	Sofia	Shanghai
Bread 1 loaf	$1.53 BGN2.66	$1.98 CN¥13.22	+29.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.70 BGN9.92	$8.60 CN¥57.52	+50.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.46 BGN12.99	$6.88 CN¥46.02	-7.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.37 BGN7.60	$1.70 CN¥11.36	-61.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.92 BGN6.81	$1.48 CN¥9.89	-62.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.99 BGN1.72	$0.99 CN¥6.65	+0.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.92 BGN1.60	$0.77 CN¥5.16	-16.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.86 BGN1.49	$0.90 CN¥6.05	+5.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.93 BGN3.36	$0.77 CN¥5.15	-60.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.48 BGN0.84	$0.36 CN¥2.40	-25.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.41 BGN0.71	$0.43 CN¥2.90	+6.6%
Average			-21.0%

Sofia vs. Shanghai - Cost of groceries

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pay 23.5% less for transportation

	Sofia	Shanghai
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.58 BGN11.46	$4.96 CN¥33.21	-24.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$28.55 BGN49.69	$29.83 CN¥199.59	+4.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,149.36 BGN52,468.33	$19,374.76 CN¥130K	-35.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$9.05 BGN15.75	$5.67 CN¥37.92	-37.4%
Average			-23.5%

Sofia vs. Shanghai - Cost of transportation

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pay 6.4% less for housing

	Sofia	Shanghai
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$15.37 BGN26.74	$10.55 CN¥70.59	-31.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$780.20 BGN1,357.77	$1,036.96 CN¥6,938.07	+32.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$603.04 BGN1,049.46	$588.71 CN¥3,938.93	-2.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$121.09 BGN210.73	$44.06 CN¥294.77	-63.6%
Average			-6.4%

Sofia vs. Shanghai - Cost of housing

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pay 2.0 times more for childcare

	Sofia	Shanghai
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$763.67 BGN1,328.99	$1,413.50 CN¥9,457.42	+85.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$12,650.99 BGN22,016.26	$27,686.22 CN¥185K	+118.8%
Average			+101.3%

Sofia vs. Shanghai - Cost of childcare

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pay 16.4% less for entertainment and sports

	Sofia	Shanghai
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.44 BGN5.98	$1.19 CN¥7.98	-65.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.53 BGN6.15	$3.35 CN¥22.41	-5.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.25 BGN7.40	$3.73 CN¥24.95	-12.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$46.61 BGN81.12	$65.69 CN¥439.52	+40.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$10.08 BGN17.54	$8.95 CN¥59.88	-11.2%
Average			-16.4%

Sofia vs. Shanghai - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 21.1% less for clothing

	Sofia	Shanghai
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$89.18 BGN155.21	$54.37 CN¥363.79	-39.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$40.94 BGN71.25	$37.09 CN¥248.19	-9.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$106.72 BGN185.72	$75.49 CN¥505.08	-29.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$106.41 BGN185.18	$105.70 CN¥707.25	-0.7%
Average			-21.1%

Sofia vs. Shanghai - 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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