Global CityIntelligence

China / East Asia

Shanghai City Intelligence

Shanghai is one of the world's largest urban economies, with deep finance, manufacturing, and creative industries and a globally cited transit network. Shanghai is a east asia city of about 29.2M metro in China. On the composite city-intelligence score, Shanghai sits comfortably above the indexed median (80/100).

Last updated
2026-05-16
Data year
2025
Population
29.2M metro
View of Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, China

Oriental Pearl Tower

Image credit: Image: Dottie Day / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Overall score

Shanghai is most useful for users comparing economic depth, mobility, and digital infrastructure against air-quality and climate-exposure considerations.

Overall80/100
Affordability64/100
Air quality64/100
Energy78/100

Overall city intelligence

Strong

80/100

Strong economic and connectivity depth balanced against air-quality and climate exposure.

Public transit

Globally leading

Among the world's most extensive metro networks.

Economic depth

Globally leading

Finance, manufacturing, and trade ecosystems shape opportunity.

Shanghai data table

The table is part of the initial server-rendered HTML and mirrors the key city score cards.

Shanghai city intelligence data table
MetricValueContext
Overall score80/100Composite score across major city intelligence modules.
Cost of Living64/100Shanghai is among China's most expensive metros, with central rents balanced against deep services, food, and transit access.
Air Quality64/100Shanghai's air-quality profile reflects ongoing improvement with seasonal particulate exposure remaining the main focus.
Energy78/100Shanghai benefits from rapid national renewable build-out, leading EV adoption, and active building-efficiency work.
Safety86/100Shanghai is among the safer large global cities, with low violent-crime context and consistent neighborhood experience.
Internet Speed86/100Shanghai delivers fast fiber broadband and dense mobile coverage, supporting a deep digital-services and finance economy.
Climate Risk68/100Shanghai carries meaningful climate exposure from coastal flooding, typhoons, and rising heat, balanced by major adaptation programs.
Resilience76/100Climate adaptation and infrastructure continuity context.

Safety

Deterministic safety estimates from our index — planning signals derived from country priors and city data, not official crime statistics.

Safety

Overall safety65/100
Low crime66/100
Personal safety67/100
Night safety57/100
Road safety67/100

Shanghai is estimated to be a generally safe city (65/100 in our safety index), with solid personal-safety indicators, though night-time scores run lower.

Quality of Life

A composite quality-of-life estimate and its component indicators.

Quality of Life

Quality of life71/100
Healthcare76/100
Education81/100
Green space44/100
Cleanliness70/100
Infrastructure84/100
Mobility75/100

Shanghai has a high quality-of-life estimate (71/100), with notable strengths in healthcare, public transport and infrastructure.

Family Friendliness

How the city scores for raising a family, with the indicators that drive it.

Family Friendliness

Family friendliness67/100
Education81/100
Green space44/100
Overall safety65/100

Shanghai scores moderate for family living (67/100), helped by education access and healthcare.

Digital Nomad Suitability

Suitability for remote workers, based on connectivity, mobility, and livability.

Digital Nomad Suitability

Digital nomad suitability75/100
Walkability90/100
Cycling68/100
Infrastructure84/100

Shanghai is high for remote workers (75/100), based on connectivity, affordability and walkability and day-to-day amenities.

Retirement Suitability

Suitability for retirement, weighing healthcare, affordability, climate, and environment.

Retirement Suitability

Retirement suitability69/100
Healthcare76/100
Cleanliness70/100
Outdoor lifestyle29/100

Shanghai is high for retirement (69/100), appealing for healthcare access, affordability and a comfortable climate.

Emergency and public safety in Shanghai

Local public safety guidance for Shanghai, with the country-level emergency contacts that apply when calling for police, fire, or ambulance.

Unverified

For the universal emergency contacts that apply in Shanghai, including police, fire, and ambulance, see the China emergency profile, which currently lists no verified national contacts.

Methodology and the wider source registry are documented on the scoring methodology and data sources pages.

Healthcare and hospitals in Shanghai

Healthcare context for Shanghai, with national-level information from China where city-specific data is not yet verified. This is informational only and does not provide medical advice.

Unverified

For the national healthcare and public-health context that applies in Shanghai, see the China healthcare profile, which currently lists no verified national healthcare information.

Related sections: emergency and public safety, scoring methodology, and data sources.

Transport and mobility in Shanghai

Local mobility context for Shanghai, with national-level context from China where city-specific data is not yet verified. This is informational only.

Unverified

For national transport authorities and operators that apply in Shanghai, see the China transport profile, which currently lists no verified national transport information.

Related sections: emergency and public safety, healthcare and hospitals, cities directory, countries directory, scoring methodology, data sources.

Air quality dataset

Source-attributed air-quality dataset for Shanghai. Verified measurements are surfaced when published from accepted official datasets; transparent fallback is shown otherwise.

Air quality dataset for Shanghai

Verified data unavailableLast updated 2026-05-16 / data year 2025

Verified air-quality measurements are not yet published for this location

Source-attributed values for Shanghai will appear here after the platform integrates verified measurements from accepted official publishers. Until then, structured air-quality module context remains available on the dedicated module page.

Shanghai air-quality dataset coverage
MetricValueData yearStatus
Air qualityVerified air-quality measurements are not yet published for this location.

Data provenance

Source attribution

  • Global City Intelligence — air-quality dataset

    Verified data unavailable
    Publisher
    Global City Intelligence
    Last verified
    2026-05-16

    The air-quality dataset begins empty by design. Verified city-level measurements appear here only after they are sourced from accepted publishers (WHO, EEA, US EPA, OpenAQ, OECD, or official national/city environmental agencies).

Explore Shanghai modules

City pages link to module and ranking pages so crawlers can move through the topic cluster naturally.

Cost of Living in Shanghai

Shanghai is among China's most expensive metros, with central rents balanced against deep services, food, and transit access.

Air Quality in Shanghai

Shanghai's air-quality profile reflects ongoing improvement with seasonal particulate exposure remaining the main focus.

Energy in Shanghai

Shanghai benefits from rapid national renewable build-out, leading EV adoption, and active building-efficiency work.

Safety in Shanghai

Shanghai is among the safer large global cities, with low violent-crime context and consistent neighborhood experience.

Internet Speed in Shanghai

Shanghai delivers fast fiber broadband and dense mobile coverage, supporting a deep digital-services and finance economy.

Climate Risk in Shanghai

Shanghai carries meaningful climate exposure from coastal flooding, typhoons, and rising heat, balanced by major adaptation programs.

City rankings

Compare this city against other indexed cities in crawlable ranking tables.

Cost of living in Shanghai

Cost of living estimates for Shanghai — monthly budgets, rent, food, and transport in the local currency, plus an affordability score for comparison. Planning estimates derived from country baselines, not live prices.

Climate in Shanghai

Climate profile for Shanghai — Humid Continental climate, annual average 18.5°C, comfort score 81/100. Month-by-month temperatures, rainfall, sunshine, and the best months to visit. Deterministic planning estimates, not a forecast.

Economy and jobs in Shanghai

Economy and jobs profile for Shanghai — industrial city, economy score 69/100, key industries including manufacturing, automotive, tourism. Employment, salary, startup, remote-work, and career indicators. Deterministic planning estimates.

Universities and education in Shanghai

Education profile for Shanghai — student city, education score 71/100, 8 representative universities, plus research, student life, and international-student indicators. Deterministic dataset, not institutional rankings.

Healthcare and retirement in Shanghai

Healthcare and retirement profile for Shanghai — regional healthcare center, healthcare score 67/100, retirement score 68/100. Medical access, specialist and emergency care, affordability, and retirement suitability. Deterministic planning estimates.

Estimate a monthly budget for Shanghai

Estimate a monthly budget for Shanghai using your own housing, food, transport, healthcare, and lifestyle inputs. Planning estimator only — not an official cost-of-living measurement.

Plan a trip budget for Shanghai

Plan a trip budget for Shanghai using your own accommodation, food, local transport, activities, travel, healthcare buffer, and emergency buffer inputs. Planning estimator only — not an official travel cost estimate.

Nearby cities from Shanghai

Where else nearby you could spend a day or a weekend from Shanghai. Links are derived from geographic proximity, shared region, shared natural-recreation areas, transport corridors, and country borders — not popularity or tourism rankings.

Taipei, Taiwan

Cross-border · about 690 km from Shanghai. Explore Taipei's city intelligence profile.

Wuhan, China

Same region · about 690 km from Shanghai. Explore Wuhan's city intelligence profile.

Busan, South Korea

Cross-border · about 832 km from Shanghai. Explore Busan's city intelligence profile.

Incheon, South Korea

Cross-border · about 838 km from Shanghai. Explore Incheon's city intelligence profile.

Daegu, South Korea

Cross-border · about 851 km from Shanghai. Explore Daegu's city intelligence profile.

Interpretation

Shanghai is most useful for users comparing economic depth, mobility, and digital infrastructure against air-quality and climate-exposure considerations. Its standout dimensions are safety (86/100) and internet speed (86/100). The area most worth watching is air quality (64/100), where the model registers practical gaps. Data year 2025; last updated 2026-05-16. Drawn from 5 institutional references.

Country context is available on the China country page. Related rankings include Overall Intelligence, Quality of Life, Remote Work. See where Shanghai appears in global rankings or read the scoring methodology.

Structured indicators on this page are directional and intended for orientation. Verified datasets are being integrated; official sources should be used for critical decisions.

Sources

5 institutional references inform this view, listed below with reliability notes. Structured indicators on this page are directional and intended for orientation; verified datasets are being integrated and official sources should be used for critical decisions.