2.51/5
548 reviews
Photo by Denys Nevozhai via Unsplash

Cost of Living in Shanghai

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speak

western

money

good

internet

wechat

foreigners

work

speed

vpn

online

bad

alipay

experience

english

water

air

Shanghai is a large and dynamic city with strong infrastructure, modern public transportation, and very affordable rides via Didi. Restaurants span a wide range of local and international cuisines, and delivery services—whether food or electronics—are extremely fast and reliable. It's also one of the safer cities in Asia, with widespread surveillance and quick crime resolution. Entrepreneurs may find good opportunities here, particularly with access to capital and high consumer spending.

However, Shanghai does present several challenges for digital nomads and short-term expats. The Great Firewall makes accessing global internet services very difficult, often requiring VPNs or more complex workarounds which are increasingly unreliable. Foreigners without a local bank account will struggle with digital payments, as cash use is almost obsolete. Air pollution is a serious concern and may cause health issues after extended stays. The city is also more expensive than many other cities in Asia, and the language barrier can be a problem—English is not widely spoken, especially outside expat-heavy districts. Making local friends takes time and effort compared to other Asian destinations.

Whether Shanghai works for you depends heavily on your budget, language skills, and reliance on the open internet.

AI-generated summary of reviews
9 days ago

Shanghai is a giant city and your experience really depends on a few factors like:
1) where you live in the city
2) do you speak basic Mandarin
3) do you make nice money
4) do you have to use the internet

If you can afford to live in Jing'an or the French Concession, you can live a fashionable metropolitan lifestyle like you would in New York City. There's amazing food (Asian, Western and fusion). You'll be surrounded by entrepreneurs, artists, fashion designers and models. Many of whom do speak English.

It gets better if you speak basic Mandarin though. You don't need to care about the characters. Just learn to speak, that's important enough. The nice thing about Mandarin is China is so big everyone has an accent, so for Chinese it really doesn't matter so much that you have one too.

Depending on how and what kind of money you make, your experience also changes. Like most places in Asia, English teachers are the lowest rank in the hierarchy of foreigners here. Chinese know. But if you're an entrepreneur, even (or especially) an online one, that's high regarded. The problem with working online here is obviously the firewall which can make it very difficult. I've heard good stories about Shadowsocks which seems to work better than regular VPNs.

The recent China vs. America tensions are in fact making people slightly more hostile against Western foreigners. But remember this is Shanghai, it's a metropolitan city, they're usually much less xenophobic than out in the country. Mostly Shanghainese are happy to embrace foreigners, become friends with them, as long as they speak Chinese. And as long as you invest a lot of time. Just popping in and out like a nomad isn't necessarily going to work so well with Chinese. Relationships are long-term.

6 years ago

Be wary of LIES, lies everywhere.

Lies like when a local restaurant tells you it uses clean filtered water. Assume that you will drink polluted water once in a while. It does not only include bacteria but also heavy metal. Drinking bottled water ? The most popular company, Nongfu, was caught using wrong norms years ago. Too many people were boycotting so they changed the traditional red bottle... and removed the English name.

Lies like when they told you the internet speed using local servers. Local internet is actually not that bad, but since you would never use Baidu, Bing or any other unblocked search engine, then your VPN will throttle much of your speed and freedom. Add to that the fact that 2-3 times a year, a political meeting happens and they totally CUT all VPN access.

Lies when you try to know the air pollution and the weather agency chose not to update the air quality index to play with the averages. It's still unhealthy but it got A LOT better these last few years.

Lies like when you just try to know how many people live in Shanghai. Between 25-35 million people (depending on if you include migrant worker and nearby Suzhou soon to be connected by the same subway) means you get access to lots of stuff. Delivery is one (electronics, food). Subway is ridiculously cheap and modern. Taxis (just replace Uber by Didi) is also awesome and quite cheap.

Lies like when you read my review and count as many bad points as good, but you still get Chinese people asking you why you hate China so much...

6 years ago

Surprisingly expensive compared to many other places and there is a major language barrier for most western folks. You often end up hanging out with other nomads or expats for sanity.

It's expensive to drink, and it's not really to make many local friends and very few speak English or any western languages.

The internet is the killer for most folks and China is slowly closing down all the VPN connections from the commercial services, so it's getting harder and harder to find a way out for things like Gmail or even Google searches and even when it does work, it's really unpredictable.

Some of the hotels and workspaces have always-on VPN connections to Hong Kong for your internet handoff which eliminates the blocking and is a big help, but this is usually at a cost that is passed on to you.

I like Shanghai, but I find it very "showy". People want to make it clear if they have money, so you see lots of flashy cars, expensive clothes and "be seen" places. It's also amazing that you can go to a great restaurant and the table next to you will have six people sitting in complete silence because they are all on their phones.

As others have said, you need to figure out a way to get Alipay or Wechat pay money on your account so you can pay for things. Even people selling vegetables in the market have a QR code so you can pay them with your phone.

Didi is the local uber-like take service, and you can use western credit cards with it on your phone, and it's pretty cheap by western standards. Public transportation is good and cheap, too.

Cool place, but not inexpensive unless you are out a way and a serious language barrier and a bit of indifference to customer service or dealing with westerners in general.

6 years ago

I also want to share that no matter where you are in China, the fucking GFW is going to ruin your internet experience to max

6 years ago

MOST IMPORTANT for a digital nomad is the internet connection, the speeds are great BUT BEWARE THE GREAT CHINESE FIREWALL even if your download speed is 100mbps, for ANY non chinese site the speed will get limited and will come out to be smth like 12-15 mbps LOL YOU NEED VPN ALWAYS for blocked sites (e.g. google, google maps, facebook, youtube, telegram, whatsapp etc) and it won't save you if you gotta work because even if the site is not blocked the speed will be ridiculous because of the aforementioned.
Shanghai is cashless, you have to get a chinese bank account to load your wechat pay or alipay but you can still use these wallets for receiving money from someone else & be able to pay with it. it's just that you can't withdraw anything or load it with your own money if you don't have a bank account. but you can use some online services that will give you wechat pay/ alipay rmb for visa/mastercard usd for example.
the air is really bad, you may not notice it right away(unlike in ho chi minh city because of the bikes), but give it a couple of weeks and it'll kick in. i haven't gotten sick once for 2-3 years and once i got to Shanghai i got sick (coughing, sore throat etc.) multiple times in 6 months, always coughing up something.
i do miss Shanghai now, but what drove me away was pollution and the complete lack of people's manners (e.g. smb will spit next to you inside a building or in the elevator- they say it was way worse before, like spitting in a conference room during a meeting - and you never know where that is gonna land; shoving, pushing, lack of respect for personal space&queues). but hey, that's not my culture, who am i to judge.
the good things are the online shopping with next day delivery, you really don't need to leave your appartment at all, Shanghai being cashless, there's a lot of money going around if you wanna set up your own business. what happens in chinese parks in the morning is also pretty dope, everyday i'd pass through a small park next to my house there'd be people doing tai chi, some girl getting trained to fight with some kinda sword, old ladies dancing with large fans, a guy playing a flute, some pensioners dancing waltz or smth similar...and that's just your regular tuesday!
there's a camera for every 2 people in the country so it's very safe, they solve crimes fast. supposedly.
there's always smb staring at you in a 10m radius if you're a cute eastern european girl, which i haven't experienced in other countries in asia or otherwise.

6 years ago

I do not think Shanghai is a good work place due to GFW and bad PM2.5.

6 years ago

If you need wechat pay, find a Chinese friend as exchange some cash for digital yuan in the wechat wallet

7 years ago

Too many people to live a good life here

7 years ago

Shanghai isn't cashless for foreigners. It's near impossible for foreigners to use WeChat Pay or AliPay

7 years ago

✅ Very safe

✅ Great public transportation

✅ Fast delivery services

✅ Good restaurant scene

✅ Entrepreneur-friendly

✅ Affordable to live

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm in the spring

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Easy to do business

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Very safe for women

❌ Severe internet restrictions

❌ Poor air quality

❌ Language barrier

❌ Expensive for Asia

❌ Difficult payment system for foreigners

❌ No freedom of speech

❌ No democracy

❌ Pretty slow internet

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Nomads.com members didn't like going here

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Feels crowded

❌ Difficult to make friends

❌ Quality of education is low

❌ Roads can be dangerous

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Not family friendly

❌ Hostile towards LGBTQ+

❌ People smoking tobacco a lot

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

7°C / 45°F cold

5°C / 41°F cold

14°C / 57°F cool

18°C / 64°F cool

23°C / 73°F mild

35°C / 95°F hot

43°C / 109°F scorching

44°C / 111°F scorching

34°C / 93°F hot

21°C / 70°F mild

18°C / 64°F cool

7°C / 45°F cold

Real (median)

9°C / 47°F
cold

7°C / 44°F
cold

14°C / 57°F
cool

18°C / 64°F
cool

23°C / 73°F
mild

29°C / 83°F
very warm

31°C / 88°F
hot

29°C / 83°F
very warm

21°C / 70°F
mild

17°C / 63°F
cool

8°C / 46°F
cold

Humidity

nice
62%

nice
68%

damp
73%

nice
68%

nice
75%

sweaty
89%

sweaty
88%

sweaty
91%

sweaty
85%

nice
73%

nice
63%

nice
55%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
7mm

dry
45mm

rainy
87mm

rainy
67mm

rainy
134mm

rainy
150mm

rainy
161mm

rainy
167mm

rainy
118mm

rainy
71mm

rainy
66mm

dry
3mm

Cloud

pockets
41%

pockets
49%

cloudy
54%

cloudy
58%

pockets
45%

pockets
38%

pockets
36%

pockets
21%

Air quality

bad
118 US AQI

bad
116 US AQI

bad
128 US AQI

bad
119 US AQI

bad
105 US AQI

okay
91 US AQI

okay
83 US AQI

okay
71 US AQI

okay
77 US AQI

okay
85 US AQI

okay
92 US AQI

bad
112 US AQI

Sun

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
6 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

Remote workers

893 people

631 people

775 people

1,086 people

859 people

588 people

663 people

744 people

973 people

811 people

973 people

1,062 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Shanghai's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

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	Flutter Developer @ Gorin Systems
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Help pick the best photos for Shanghai and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

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74pts

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33pts

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3pts

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1pts

97pts

64pts

37pts

31pts

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27 Mbps

Singapore

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 33° 91° 29° 84°

✈️5h

$4,155 / mo

85 Mbps

Berlin

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 29° 84° 28° 82° AQI 46

✈️11h

$4,577 / mo

27 Mbps

⭐️ OverallAll

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.51/5 (Rank #410) 548 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍8 liked it 👎7 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,934 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 5Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Too hot: 35°C95°F (feels 48°C118°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 66%
💨 Air quality (now)	😐 Moderate: 95 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	😐 Moderate: 87 US AQI
👌 Safety	Great
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Great
🤝 Lack of racism*	Good
🎓 Education level*	Mediocre
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very low: $677 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
😤 People density	🤨 Busy: 13k ppl/km² (1 per 9x9m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Bad
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Okay
🍸 Nightlife	Great
📶 Free WiFi in city	Good
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Good
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Great
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Bad
👩 Female friendly	Great
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Bad
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	China
🗓️ Average trip length	7 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	5 Mbps ⚠️ Internet in Shanghai is fast averaging 40 Mbps but the Great Firewall slows down speeds to foreign websites by 8x to ~5 Mbps.
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌦 35°C 95°F + 😊 Comfy (66%) = feels 48°C 118°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👎😷 95 US AQI = 🚬 / day
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👎😷 87 US AQI = 🚬 / day
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	French Concession
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	Yangpu
🚕 Best taxi app*	Didi
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 10 CNY in USD	USD 1.39
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	CNY 1,000 = USD 139
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners because WeChat is very hard to set up)
💻 Best coworking space	Sandbox3 (free)
💻 Best alt. coworking space	Agora Space
☕️ Best coffee place	See + Saw
☕️ Best alt. coffee place	Baker & Spice
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place	Cafe 85ºC
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	👍13% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	7,201,200 visitors
📸 Tourists now	138,011 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	24,000,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$8,126 / year
😤 Population density	🤨 busy: 9x9m (81m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 53% 👱‍♀️ 47%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 56% 👱‍♀️ 44%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 82% 👱‍♀️ 18%
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
🏠 Apartment listings	Smart Shanghai
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Spring
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Air China
🏥 Best hospital	ParkWay Health China

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$1,934 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,275 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$3,693 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$1,055 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,203 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$952 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$813 / month
🏠 Median home price	$118,508
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$56 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$31 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$217 / month
🍛 Dinner	$6
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$3
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$4
👩‍🏫 International school	$23,980 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$3 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$2 / trip