It’s that time of year again — time to list the “best of” 2010. From XPatulator, here are the 10 most expensive cities in the world to live in. “Expensive” was determined by looking at the cost of a basket of items in each location.
How They Rank
Xpatulator ranks the cost of living based on prices for the same goods and services in each city. They use New York City as their baseline, with a cost of living rank of 100.
They choose their 13 basket groups of goods and services based on what’s representative of an expat lifestyle.
The 13 basket groups are weighted and include:
- Alcohol & Tobacco
- Clothing
- Communication
- Education
- Furniture & Appliances
- Groceries
- Healthcare
- Household (rental, utilities, taxes)
- Miscellaneous
- Personal care
- Recreation & culture
- Restaurants & Hotels
- Transportation
2010’s Top Ten in the World
This year, the most expensive cities were in Asia, Europe and South America.
So, starting from the most expensive, here are the Top Ten in the world:
- Tokyo, Japan
- Caracas, Venezuela
- Hong Kong, China
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Osaka, Japan
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Oslo, Norway
- Nagoya, Japan
- Moscow, Russia
You can see the complete list of 300 cities here.
Tokyo earned top honors for its costs for housing, healthcare and groceries. Its cost of living index is a whopping 158.4.
Caracas is the most expensive city for furniture and appliances, alcohol and tobacco, recreation and culture, and restaurants and hotels. It’s also the second-most expensive for healthcare and housing.
Hong Kong wins third place because of expensive housing and healthcare.
Top Ten By Region
Here are the most expensive cities by region.
Asia Pacific
- Tokyo, Japan
- Hong Kong, China
- Osaka, Japan
- Nagoya, Japan
- Yokohama, Japan
- Sydney, Australia
- Shanghai, China
- Canberra, Australia
- Kiribati, South Terawa
- Singapore
South Asia
- Mumbai, India
- New Delhi, India
- Chennai, India
- Calcutta, India
- Male, Maldives
- Hyderabad, India
- Bangalore, India
- Kabul, Afghanistan
- Bangladesh, Dhaka
- Lahore, Pakistan
South Asia’s most expensive city, Mumbai, isn’t all that expensive. It ranks 109th in the world, not even close to the cost of living in Tokyo.
Europe
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Oslo, Norway
- Moscow, Russia
- Vaduz, Liechtenstein
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- London, United Kingdom
- Paris, France
- Monaco, Monaco
- Saint Helier, Jersey
Middle East
- Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Doha, Qatar
- Manama, Bahrain
- Dubai, UAE
- Jerusalem, Israel
- Beirut, Lebanon
- West Bank, Palestinian Territories
- Kuwait City, Kuwait
- Damascus, Syria
- Tehran, Iran
It should be noted that the most expensive Middle Eastern city is only the 27th most expensive in the world, so the region can’t compare in cost of living to Asia or Europe.
The Americas
- Caracas, Venezuela
- Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Brasilia, Brazil
- Nassau, Bahamas
- New York City, USA
- Toronto, Canada
- Stanley, Falkland Islands
- Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
- Vancouver, Canada
New York, the most expensive city in the United States, is 33rd in the world. Two other US cities ranked in top 100 in this report: San Francisco (95) and Boston (96).
Coming soon, the world’s least expensive cities for expats.
photo by yasuhiro on flickr
this is really great information Susanna! i had no idea about some of these cities.
Thanks, Marianne. I knew Tokyo was right up there, but I have to admit Caracas was a BIG surprise to me. . .
Last weekend I have read it a book called “Being stripped naked “, its really amazing, it is an Asian romance novel portraying a British expats life in Hongkong during 1997. I loved to read this book.