A wave of Chinese influencers on TikTok is going viral for showing just how far your dollar can stretch in China—and how far it doesn’t in America. Responding to President Donald Trump’s tariff war and economic uncertainty, creators have been filming average days in Chinese cities: full meals for under $10, $1000 rent for 3-bedroom apartments, government-funded healthcare, to name a few. Others lambasted Americans for allowing their own living standards to fall so low, and urged us to stand up for ourselves.
While much of what these influencers claim is true, the details get murky. Rural China is not nearly as nice as urban China (or as comfortable as rural America), and it is important to factor in income differences when comparing basic costs.
$9.50 for a day’s worth of eating out?
Over on TikTok, popular user Lisa Lee (@lisalee6789) has been talking about the tariff war between the U.S. and China and showing how much food and apartments cost in one of the nation’s most expensive cities. Those frustrated with the spiking costs of living in the U.S. may experience extreme bouts of jealousy.
On April 5, 2025, Lee posted a video showing how much she spends when she eats out for every meal in a day.
“Hello, this is your Chinese spy, Lisa,” she joked. “A lot of American friends have asked me about the cost of living here in China. So today, let me show you how much I spent in a day in a second-tier city in China.”
@lisalee6789 Single day cost of living in Xiamen, one of the most expensive Chinese city.#chinese #china #costofliving #cost #eatout ♬ original sound – Lisa lee
Her breakfast, purchased from a street vendor, is only 70 cents. She then grabs a subway ride for 30 cents. A takeout order of a personal pizza and Coke costs $3.80. She then walks home from work because it only takes 30 minutes, stopping at a noodle shop and spending $2.50 for a big bowl. Later that night, she grabs a small street meal for $1.50 and a lemonade for 60 cents.
“So, in total, I spent $9.50—66 yuan.”
Top comments under her video read, “I fear a certain kind of propaganda works on me and this is it. 
,” “China makes the US look like a third world country 
,” “I loved living in China. My apartment was paid for (I taught in the international centre of a Chinese school.) My heating was like £50/year. My phone was like £30/year,” and “My brother has lived in China for the past two years, tier 1 city, and he spends almost no money everyday. Everything is so cheap there and the US doesn’t want anybody to know that.”
$1000 for a 3-bedroom apartment
On February 11, 2025, TikToker @juliiachinaa shared some of the expenses related to raising two kids with her husband in China. The first number that will floor you is their monthly rent for a 3-bedroom apartment—$1,000. Utilities are just $50 per month. Her kids’ school lunch bill is $80 per month, and an extra art class is $100. The cell phone bill is just $15 per person.
Before you start calling your Senator, there’s some context to consider. Part of the reason for these low costs is the average income in China. According to the World Population Review, the median individual income in China is $4,426—a little over a quarter of the $19,306 average in the U.S.
Of course, it would be pretty tough to eat out for a whole day, late-night snack included, for just $40 over here. While it might be possible to find a 3-bedroom apartment in an expensive U.S. city for $4,000, you’ll just get mad again when you find out that the median income in urban areas of China spikes up to $7,068.
‘They rob you blind and you thank them for it’
In a viral video posted by @neil778027 on April 12, the TikToker tells Americans to blame themselves for their flagging living standards instead of trying to punish China. Instead of fighting his country, he thinks we need to fight to fix our own.
“Americans, you don’t need a tariff. You need a revolution,” he said. “For decades, your government and oligarchs will ship your jobs to China. Not for diplomacy, not for peace, but to exploit cheap labor. And in the process, they hollow out your middle class, crash your working class, and told you to be proud while they sold your future for profit.”
@neil778027 They Screwed You Over — And You Thanked Them. #YouNeedARevolution #WakeUpAmerica #TariffTruth #OligarchsWinYouLose #PoliticalLies #MAGARealityCheck #EconomicBetrayal #TikTokPolitics #ChinaVsUSA #TradeWarExposed #TruthBomb #WorkingClassReality #SystemIsRigged #RealTalk ♬ original sound – GrumpyChineseGuy 
He says China used the money it made from cheap labor to lift millions of its citizens out of poverty, fund healthcare, build infrastructure, and generally improve living standards. This is largely true—the World Bank reports that China’s extreme poverty rate plummeted from 88 percent in 1981 to 0.7 percent in 2015. As of 2022, they defined extreme poverty as living on less than $1.90 per day.
China also covers 95 percent of its population under the basic medical insurance (BMI) program, representing over 1.35 billion people. A 2010s initiative required this insurance to cover at least 70 percent of all medical costs.
Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, China far outpaced the U.S. in infrastructure investments from 2013 to 2021, spending $679 billion compared to America’s $76 billion.
Are China’s living standards really better than America’s? It’s complicated.
The fact remains that the worker exploitation problem mentioned by this TikTok user persists in China. Despite the nation’s labor laws, a January report by the BBC found SHIEN factory workers laboring for 75 hours per week or more for low pay in unsafe conditions. Of course, the U.S. has its own labor issues.
Meanwhile, living standards in rural China lag behind urban centers (which is also true in America). While these standards have increased substantially since the 1980s, income inequality remains a stark issue and appears to be getting worse. China certainly has its share of billionaires, coming in second worldwide in 2022 with 539 behind America’s 735.
Still, by many straightforward metrics, a lot of Chinese citizens appear to have it better, even if some of these TikTokers exaggerate. User @iambuddhawangwang1 seemed to claim that student loan interest is illegal in China, which isn’t true. However, their government did repeatedly waive this interest in the 2020s, including last year, while allowing students to defer all payments without penalties.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @neil778027 for comment via TikTok.
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