The cost of living in China is relatively low compared to most developed western countries, however, it’s a little bit more complicated than that. Like anywhere else, the area you live in and the lifestyle you lead will greatly influence the amount of money you will need to get through the month, although getting by should never be a real concern as jobs in bigger cities usually pay more.
If you want to live in any of the first tier cities in China (Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen), where property markets are booming, you can expect to pay a pretty penny for rent. I’ve met people who pay as much as ¥3000 a month just for a room in a shared apartment. In these cities you might recieve housing allowances from your employers to help with the rent or you could find a place near the edge of the city which would mean taking public transport to get to work if you work near the city centre.
On the other end of the spectrum, if you find yourself working in smaller, less developed cities (less than a million people is a small city in China), you will be surprised by how low the rent can be. A friend of mine and his wife rented a decent, three bedroom, ground floor apartment in the first city I lived in in China for ¥8000 for a whole year.
Generally, in a tier two city you can find a reasonably nice place in a good area for between ¥1500 (studio apartment) and ¥2000 – ¥3000 (one or two bedroom apartment).
Now the second biggest factor when it comes to living costs is, of course, your lifestyle. If you love Chinese food or are vegetarian or vegan then you are going to find that keeping yourself fed is extraordinarily cheap. Local vegetables in China are exceptionally affordable and if you prefer cooking to eating out then you could easily feed yourself on less than ¥500 a month, no problem. Chinese food products are very low priced and if you’re content eating like a local then you can save a lot of money on food to spend on other things.
If, on the other hand, you can’t stomach Chinese food, miss food from home and love to eat Swiss chocolate, Italian cheese, craft beer and Australian beef then your daily food budget can get quite steep, especially if you prefer to eat all these things in foreign restaurants. Foreign products are notoriously expensive in China and maintaining a western diet and lifestyle can be rather costly. This is not only true for food items but for just about anything with a foreign label. Recently though, as Chinese people are buying more and more foreign products and foreign companies are inching themselves more and more into China there is increasing demand and competition which is gradually reducing the prices of these products.
Here is a brief breakdown of what you can expect to pay each month while living in China:
- Rent: ¥2000
- Groceries: ¥1000
- Transport: ¥200
- Internet: ¥200
- Utilities: ¥250
- Entertainment: ¥1000
One more thing to be aware of is that if you intend to live in the northern parts of China you will have to pay for four months of heating during winter. This is optional, but even if you choose not to recieve central heating you will still have to pay a large portion of the fee. Most people welcome the heating though because it can get quite cold in winter.
By and large, living in China is fairly affordable and depending on the individual, you could comfortably make it through the month on as little as ¥5000. For more specific information you can leave me a message and I’ll be happy to get back to you with what I know or follow this link below to the Expatistan website which has loads of details on the cost of living in China for just about every city.
Yingyulaoshi 