Discharge of urban living wastes is surging in China. Treatments of wastes include burning, burying and dumping, of which the first two prevail. Cost and benefits vary with waste treatments. This paper establishes a function of cost-benefits regarding burning and burying wastes, which is used to calculate the burning and burying costs in 25 cities at different economic levels, and discusses how to select appropriate waste treatments in accordance with their economy. Results show that burying cost is twice higher than burning in most cities, including tier 1, tier 2, tier 3 and below cities. Waste treatment cost in tier 1 cities is higher than tier 2, tier 3 and below. Burying cost is 2 258 RMB/t in tier 1 cities, triple the tier 2 and five times the tier 3 and below. Burning cost is 965 RMB/t in tier 1 cities, triple the tier 2 and four times the tier 3 and below. Among the cost factors, land use cost plays a big role in burying cost, while population density in burning cost. Burning cost is normally lower than burying cost regardless of their economic levels.