Job Discussion Forums

goodwork002002 · Joined: 23 Oct 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Massachusetts, USA

If I want to earn the equivalent of USA $60,000 a year (what it will purchase in USA) ... how much Yuan do I need to earn in China?

oldboy · Joined: 03 Jan 2010 Posts: 38

This may be of use:
http://www.xe.com/ucc/

LarssonCrew · Joined: 06 Jun 2009 Posts: 1308

No that's not right, anyone can do 60,000 * 7 to get the actual literal value. What the OP means is, if he wants the same lifestyle as you would get in the US if you were earning $60,000 there, how much would you need to make a year in China.

I think China, in Xi'an at least is about 1/8th the cost of Britain, so maybe 1/6.5th the cost of the US. Factor in being a foreigner and maybe 1/6th, so you would probably need $10,000 or 70,000 RMB, about 6,000 a month.

oldboy · Joined: 03 Jan 2010 Posts: 38

Oh so he meant in terms of relative wealth? My bad

I'm assuming you would work it out this way:
You earn 60k in America, which is about double the national average.
So when you come to China you should look be earning double the national average. It's hard to calculate an average as China is such a huge place, but I would say it's about $7,800 a year. Therefore, theoretically you should be looking to earn $15,000 a year which is about 100,000 RMB / 8,350 a month.

You need to consider that following this, you are living double the standard of the average Chinese person. Now, that essentially means that you would have to live similar to a Chinese person earning double the average, not a western man. As it doesn't take into account western style living.

Not sure if this is correct, just how I assume you would work it out..

sharpe88 · Joined: 21 Oct 2008 Posts: 226

You can't really do this comparison. Most foreigners, unless they are backpackers, do not want to live like a Chinese. The fact is if you consumed a lot of Western (imported) products, had a Western style apartment, drive a decent car, the cost will be *more* than back home

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Yeah, but even a Chinese-style life is getting more and more expensive, or so I've been told by my Chinese friends. I'm not talking about those that (maybe) eat meat once a week or pick up plastic bottles to make ends meet. No, rather your basic 9-5er who wants an average comfortable life in an average, comfortable apartment with MAYBE a normal-ish car such as a VW. Groceries, clothes and other staples are steadily rising - - so I've been told. I would think rent prices and utilities in major cities, if not exactly the same as what you'd pay in your home country, would seem to be getting closer every day.

randyj · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:21 am Post subject:

The World Bank uses purchasing power parity (PPP) calculations to make such comparisons. Although quite complex, it is more useful than comparing the difference in currency. Food and haircuts are far less expensive in China, but luxury goods and technology-related prices are mostly unaffected by currency differences. See https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html

Jayray · Joined: 28 Feb 2009 Posts: 373 Location: Back East

As soon as someone figures the answer to this question, please contact me.

The price of real estate and the price of automobiles alone would require an enormous salary, far beyond the average Chinese working stiff's salary.

That sixty thousand USD per year buys a lot of things in the U.S. that you can't even get in China with the same relative ease. Convert that same amount of money to rmb, and all you get is a currency equivalent.

On 8,500 rmb per month, I'm merely living living like a guy who makes 8,500 rmb per month. There's no comparison in lifestyle between the U.S. and China.