The cost of Living in China in 2023

Way better than the U.S. especially these days!  I can live well on $2000 and save the remaining salary I earn and that's including paying for my daughter and wife.  Tuition sucks though if you need to pay for you child's schooling

In Suzhou, everything Made in China or locally produced in China is so cheap. Eating out may cost more.  Public transport is very cheap also. Rental is not that cheap though. An 88 sq meter apartment costs CNY 4800 monthly.

Hi there,

Ok so, Beijing is not a cheap place to live. In actuality there are probably no more expensive places to live in China.  Shanghai and Guangzhou are probably quite similar in cost.

To answer the listed questions:

In terms of accommodation, how much does it cost to rent/buy a flat or house in China?

We bought our own house.  The cost for a 700 sq meter house 10 years ago on the outskirts of Beijing ¥12m, nowadays probably 40% higher

How much do you pay on average for public transport (bus, metro, train, tram, taxi)? Own car and costs will vary depending on your own commute

What is the average price of your monthly food basket? I think groceries for the two of us are around ￥2-3k 

How much does health insurance cost? This I can't answer as my wife's company covers it.  I am retired now but my company covered mine when I was working. 

How much does it cost to see a doctor in China? Depends on where you go.  In Beijing, we have the option of Beijing United Family Hospital and Clinics catering to foreigners but as the costs were covered by insurance I can  not say exactly how much but, I've heard many people including my wife say that some things like an MRI, for example, were about 4 times higher than some of the other hospitals

What about school fees for your children? Our son has moved on to university 5 years ago but last I checked the British School of Beijing these were about Age RangeAges 2 to 18; Yearly fees: from ¥212,915 to: ￥318,790. This is more than we paid for his university costs in Europe

What is the average monthly cost of electricity, gas, water, internet, and telephone? We have a large house in the Changping district. Electricity is around ￥1,200, Not sure of the other costs. I know ￥500 Will last on my mobile for a few months usually and I use 5G

What is the average cost of your leisure activities? My leisure activities/hobbies are photography, travel, skiing and snowboarding, and paragliding.

Photography is basically costless if you have your own camera etc. and well travel is going to be only as expensive as your individual taste I suppose.

We live in Northern Beijing about 2 Hour drive to ChongLi, Zhangjiakou where there are several ski resorts  I own all my equipment so I'm not renting anything so it's basically just the cost of getting there and the hotel. Lift tickets vary between resorts but generally are in the range of Ticket/pass price: CNY350 - CNY1420

For Paragliding, again I own all my own gear so like skiing it's going to vary for the cost of transportation and hotels. You pay an annual club fee for whichever place you're going to be I will use Hangzhou as an example as there isn't much flying around Beijing.  There the annual fee for a typical club is ￥1,300.  You buy your own insurance where are you going with a group for a cheaper price I think it's about ￥1,000 for a year. And you'll probably pay about 100 a day flying.  Depending on your level of experience maybe you have a coach that you need to pay as well

Hope this helps someone

Hello,

china is not an homogeneous space, based on the cities and locations the cost may vary drastically.

• how much does it cost to rent/buy a flat or house in in China? This question is very generic, what is the reference size to compare? A single bedroom will cost between 4KCNY to 8K CNY in shenzhen, while a 3 bedroom may go above 30k CNY
• How much do you pay on average for public transport (bus, metro, train, tram, taxi)? Average 100CNY per day for an active day (about 50km) by taxi, bellow 20CNY for the same day by train/bus
• What is the average price of your monthly food basket? Again, for how many? For a couple this may vary between 3k and 6k, depends if you want to eat local food only or you want to eat imported items…
• How much does health insurance cost? How much does it cost to see a doctor in China? Dr in China in public hospitals cost between 100CNY and 200CNY, in private clinics this may go up to 1000CNY
• What about school fees for your children? Very expensive, international schools are between 100K CNY and 300K CNY
• What is the average monthly cost of electricity, gas, water, internet, telephone? 500CNY for electricity, 100 CNY for gas, I don’t know for water (often included in the rental), 299 CNY for internet, 100 CNY for post-paid phone bill
• What is the average cost of your leisure activities? it depends on your hobbies and your budget

The cost depends on the city and district, also it depends if you want to leave in an expat area or not. Expect also a cost for learning Chinese, kids activities (very expensive in China),….

wish you a good luck in your new adventure!

br,

Alpha

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your feedback on this topic. It is very much appreciated.

All the best

Bhavna

It best like everywhere else in the world you want to live in, to own your own home if you can, and place solar energy on it.

Hello David,

If you don't mind, could you please elaborate by giving us more details?

Thank you,

Cheryl

Expat.com team

In Guangzhou, Tianhe District,

Taxis start at about 12 RMB

Metro is about 7-15 RMB depending on the distance

Bus is 2 RMB

If you have a vehicle, I can confidently say its not cheap.

In regards to shopping, family of three, with regards to groceries a month (days we don't eat where we work-canteen meals are provided by employer), easily over 600 RMB if you are aiming to balance diet and eat quality products. If you live of peanut butter and bread, well-ya its cheaper.

Rent is crazy though-cheaper places with 1 bedroom can still sometimes run near 5000 RMB a month. Likewise though, some two bedroom places can be around that price as well.

@Mickael

I have often posted to this thread about costs, this time I only want to post about medical costs in China.  I just spent two weeks in the hospital and the total cost came to 4500 RMB (about $750) try doing that in the US.  The care was fine and the only down side is if you are not fluent in Chinese you will need to have some who is help you.  Also you need help getting your food to your room, otherwise it was not a bad or expensive experience. This is why I stay in China, the cost to live here is reasonable compared to the US.

China is a wonderful country

It is a wonderful country . But costs (for expat life) is definitely on the rise (as everywhere) but you can find ways to live cheap in China if you need to , compared  to Europe that’s the difference

@lrai for family that’s not the case . Hospital care if you want it like US or Europe is equally expensive if not even more expensive. If you are ok with public hospital and can take the disadvantages fine otherwise it’s not cheap

Matte:

Health care here in NE China at least for me has been very affordable and good.  Two weeks in a hospital back in the US would have set me back a lot.  I do not have health insurance for many reasons but mainly b/c I don't live in the US so it's a waste of my money to get it.  Here in China I can't get it b/c I am not Chinese and the foreign policies you can get a limited in coverage.  I pay as I go and it's been affordable.  I am blessed with good Chinese friends and they were able to help me out while I was in the hospital.  Overall I have nothing but good things to say about it.

@lrai well as I said , if you don’t have family it’s affordable . Otherwise it’s not if you want to make sure you get the care you need .

Matte:

The care I got was 1st rate and equal to anything I would get in the US and really not expensive.  Yes, I could use western docs here but why?  I am not sure where you are located in China but where I live in the NE of China medical care is good and affordable.  Just my observation.

LR

eat out beer wine daily cost

Monthly:

(Kids: None)

Transportation: Near zero. The occasional DIDI because we have mountain bikes. Yay!

Insurance: We have a bank account that serves as our own insurance fund. Why? Insurance is too expensive. They want a nice profit, right? Their business model is to try to not pay claims, right? Our fund has a yield that we keep. You bust a leg? Take it out of your fund. Hospitals are pretty cheap here. Do the maths and see if that works for you.

Restaurants: They are terrible here in Haikou, so we seldom waste our money there.

Groceries: Hainan has fantastic, fresh, cheap veg. Fruit like papaya, star fruit, wax apples, huangpi, wild lychee are free along the roadsides where we cycle all the time. Monthly meat 300, milk 150, veg 250, grains 200, other kitchen and bathroom stuff maybe 500, oh and booze 600.

Clothes: A few hundred a year, max. We live in t-shirts, shorts and sandals because it's too hot to wear fancy clothes.

Home: Rent and electricity, water, management fee, etc: 4,000 a month -- quite a lot for Haikou, but we get a sweet pool and nice grounds.

Holidays: Tens of thousands, and not in China! Sorry China, I love you, but if you want top dollar for your holiday hotels and restaurants, you have to up your game. You just ain't worth what you charge. We'd rather go to Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, etc. More and more cheap flights and easy/no visas, and just a couple of hours to get there. They really know what foreigners want. China had decades to sort that out, and they still suck at it. They can't make good Western food, don't understand cozy decor, and frankly, can't even provide a comfortable restaurant seat. And don't get me started on those restaurant tables with that giant, black metal base taking up the space where your feet should go. Stop trying to re-invent stuff.

Thank you for this very informative post, @ Jupiter !

It is very much appreciated.

Regards

Bhavna