Comparing the cost of living in China and the United States

Me and some coworkers were talking about how much it costs to live in China compared to the United States. I thought this might be a good topic for the sub. <br><br>One of the reasons China is able to keep wages so low (and still have high quality of life) is that the cost of living is much lower than the US. <br><br>* Rent - My Chinese coworkers were telling me that they can rent an apartment in a large city in China for $300/mo. I think this is probably a bit low, but rent in China is cheap. I live in Phoenix. My rent is $900/mo for a small one bedroom apartment that is a 5 minute walk from work. <br>* Food - They were saying that a meal at a sit down restaurant in China can cost around $3 USD. I have lived in Phoenix for almost 5 years and I don't think I've ever had a meal at a sit down restaurant for less than $15. <br><br>Here's a fun example: <br>My roommate went to a noodle restaurant last night and had a bowl of noodles that was about the same size and quality as what I would expect at a restaurant in the US. Her dinner was about 35 CNY (about $5 USD). I had the same thing for lunch at a restaurant in Scottsdale last week, and it cost $18. <br><br>* Childcare - Daycare in China is about $50/mo compared to around $1300/mo in the US. <br>* Health care - China uses a public health care system. From what I can tell from coworkers, they have to pay a % of the costs of any medical care they need, and they can also use private health insurance if they want to. <br><br>The only things that seem to be more expensive in China than the US are cars. They have a lot of taxes and fees for owning a car, so there are a lot of people using public transportation and electric scooters. <br><br>This is important because it changes how we think about minimum wage, cost of living, quality of life, etc. It's not fair to compare wages in the US and China because the cost of living is so different.