Beijing is 19.4% cheaper than United States.

If you lived in Beijing instead of United States, you would:

pay 67.7% less for restaurants

 
United States
Beijing
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $18.15
 
$4.37
CN¥31.42
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$9.28
 
$5.82
CN¥41.89
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $2.24
 
$0.53
CN¥3.81

Improve prices ·

pay 29.1% less for groceries

 
United States
Beijing
Bread
1 loaf
$3.17
 
$2.04
CN¥14.68
Local cheese (8 oz) $5.93
 
$6.63
CN¥47.72
Milk (1 gallon) $3.83
 
$7.67
CN¥55.19

Improve prices ·

pay 18.1% less for transportation

 
United States
Beijing
Gasoline (1 gallon) $3.72
 
$4.79
CN¥34.49
Monthly public transit pass $63.08
 
$43.66
CN¥314.20
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $25,096.27
 
$24,196.95
CN¥174,118.85

Improve prices ·

pay 53.5% less for housing

 
United States
Beijing
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$70.73
 
$20.10
CN¥144.61
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $1,528.07
 
$1,154.95
CN¥8,310.88
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $1,282.97
 
$634.84
CN¥4,568.21

Improve prices ·

pay 28.9% more for childcare

 
United States
Beijing
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $1,137.97
 
$951.31
CN¥6,845.56
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $15,943.15
 
$27,770.10
CN¥199,830.84

Improve prices ·

pay 20.7% less for entertainment and sports

 
United States
Beijing
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $5.19
 
$1.46
CN¥10.47
Cappuccino in mid-range area $4.51
 
$4.37
CN¥31.48
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$8.57
 
$4.37
CN¥31.42

Improve prices ·

pay 24.5% more for clothing

 
United States
Beijing
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$45.40
 
$69.18
CN¥497.79
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$36.73
 
$43.88
CN¥315.77
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$79.51
 
$89.48
CN¥643.88

Improve prices ·
The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: March 2024
Share this

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Beijing or United States. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in United States vs. China. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within United States and China.

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more