3.8/5
704 reviews
Photo by Nuno Alberto via Unsplash

Shanghai

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work

speak

western

money

good

internet

wechat

bad

foreigners

speed

vpn

online

alipay

nice

experience

english

water

Shanghai is an exciting, modern city with great potential, particularly for entrepreneurs and those who live in well-developed districts like Jing'an or the French Concession. It offers excellent infrastructure including cheap and efficient public transport, and fast internet speeds for domestic sites. Delivery services are fast and widely used, making everyday life very convenient. It is also a very safe city, with heavy surveillance deterring crime effectively.

However, Shanghai has serious downsides that are especially important for digital nomads and foreigners. The Great Firewall severely restricts access to non-Chinese websites, making VPNs a must – though their effectiveness is inconsistent, especially during sensitive political periods. For foreigners, using local digital wallets like WeChat Pay or Alipay can be difficult without a Chinese bank account, which complicates everyday transactions in this primarily cashless economy.

Pollution is another issue; air quality has improved but is still poor enough to impact health over time. The language barrier is significant outside of expat-heavy neighborhoods, and Shanghai can feel isolating or sterile socially unless you speak some Mandarin. Living costs are also high compared to many parts of Asia, especially for food, drink, and quality housing or office space.

Digital nomads should weigh these heavily before choosing to stay long-term.

AI-generated summary of reviews
1 year ago

Really bad place to work because of the super slow and inconsistent internet.

But fun and nice place for tourism: Xin Tian Di and the area around Fuxing Park.

4 months 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.

7 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...

7 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.

8 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

8 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.

8 years ago

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

8 years ago

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

8 years ago

Too many people to live a good life here

8 years ago

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

8 years ago

✅ Very safe

✅ Fast internet (within China)

✅ Modern and cheap public transportation

✅ Good delivery and e-commerce services

✅ Opportunity-rich for entrepreneurs

✅ Affordable to live

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Warm in the spring

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Easy to do business

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Very safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Not a lot of alcohol abuse

❌ Extremely limited internet due to firewall

❌ Poor air quality

❌ Language barrier

❌ Cashless system difficult for foreigners

❌ Expensive compared to other Asian cities

❌ Overcrowded and lacking personal space

❌ No freedom of speech

❌ No democracy

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Very hot in the summer

❌ Very damp now

❌ Nomads.com members really didn't like going here

❌ Feels crowded

❌ Difficult to make friends

❌ Quality of education is low

❌ Roads can be dangerous

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ 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)

745°
cold

541°
cold

1457°
cool

1864°
cool

2373°
mild

3493°
hot

42108°
scorching

3595°
hot

2170°
mild

1864°
cool

745°
cold

Real (median)

947°
cold

744°
cold

1457°
cool

1864°
cool

2373°
mild

2983°
very warm

3188°
hot

2984°
very warm

2170°
mild

1763°
cool

846°
cold

Humidity

damp
70%

damp
74%

damp
76%

nice
72%

nice
76%

sweaty
85%

sweaty
86%

sweaty
81%

nice
74%

nice
70%

nice
66%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
7mm

dry
46mm

rainy
88mm

rainy
67mm

rainy
134mm

rainy
150mm

rainy
161mm

rainy
168mm

rainy
118mm

rainy
71mm

rainy
66mm

dry
3mm

Cloud

cloudy
62%

cloudy
70%

cloudy
72%

cloudy
73%

cloudy
70%

cloudy
85%

cloudy
70%

cloudy
65%

cloudy
58%

cloudy
57%

pockets
29%

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

safe
3 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
6 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

seek shade
6 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

safe
2 UVI

Remote workers

2,700 people

1,920 people

2,667 people

3,680 people

3,000 people

2,612 people

2,310 people

2,430 people

3,700 people

3,632 people

3,424 people

3,640 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

Current weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0)

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

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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$6,521 / mo

22 Mbps

Singapore

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌫 Feels 35° 95° 28° 83° Has AC AQI 79 😷

✈️5h

$4,115 / mo

93 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.

🎒 Nomad Score™	3.8/5 (Rank #73) 704 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍8 liked it 👎8 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
🤯 Overcrowding score	0% is nomad here
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,838 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 10 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥶 A bit cold: 18°C64°F (feels 18°C64°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	💦 Damp: 77%
❄️ % of buildings with AC	😍 Very high: 100%
💨 Air quality (now)	😷 Unhealthy for some: 128 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	😐 Moderate: 87 US AQI
👌 Safety	Good
👩 Safe for women	Great
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Bad
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Great
🤝 Lack of racism*	Good
🎓 Education level*	Mediocre
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Resilience to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Poor: $1,155 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
😤 People density	🤨 Busy: 13k ppl/km² (1 per 9x9m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Bad
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 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
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	China
🗓️ Average trip length	7 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	10 Mbps ⚠️ Internet in Shanghai is fast averaging 80 Mbps but the Great Firewall slows down speeds to foreign websites by 8x to ~10 Mbps.
⛅️ Weather (now)	☀️ 18°C 64°F + 💦 Damp (77%) = feels 18°C 64°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👎😷 128 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 1.50
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	CNY 1,000 = USD 150
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners because WeChat is very hard to set up)
💻 Best coworking space	Sandbox3 (free)
☕️ Best coffee place	See + Saw
☕️ Best alt. coffee place	Baker & Spice
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place	Cafe 85ºC
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
🦷 Fluoride added	🚫 No fluoride added
🪨 Water hardness	Moderately hard · 106 mg/L
♻️ Return rate	👍14% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	7,201,200 visitors
📸 Tourists now	138,011 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	29,000,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$13,862 / year
😤 Population density	🤨 busy: 9x9m (81m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 53% 👱‍♀️ 47%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 56% 👱‍♀️ 44%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 84% 👱‍♀️ 16%
⛪️ 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	$1,838 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,371 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$4,112 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$1,175 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,285 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,024 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$1,042 / month
🏠 Median home price	$127,371
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$60 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$34 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$150 / month
🍛 Dinner	$4
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$1
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$3
👩‍🏫 International school	$27,816 / year
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$2 / trip

Shanghai

4,200 remote workers in Shanghai now, of which 6+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

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