List of most expensive cities for expatriate employees

These are lists of the world's most expensive cities, according to the Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Economist Intelligence Unit and ECA International cost-of-living surveys. Other surveys from online collaborative indices, such as Numbeo or Expatistan are not covered by this article.

Various factors enter into a city's cost-of-living for expatriate employees, such as monetary value, consumer confidence, investment, interest rates, exchange rates of the country's currency, and housing costs. This list does not account for cost-of-living savings accrued to local citizens through government-subsidized housing, health care, and education, differences in taxation, and many other factors irrelevant to expatriates. Cost of living may be much higher for expatriates than for local residents in a developing country, especially if expatriates expect a standard of living similar to a developed country.

Mercer

Luanda

Seoul

Sydney

Nagoya

Bern

Mercer's Cost of Living surveys are taken in March of each year.

The survey covers 214 cities around the world and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. It is designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees. New York is used as the base city and all other cities are compared against New York. The cost of housing plays an important part in determining where cities are ranked.

Two main factors determine a city’s ranking in Mercer’s survey - the relative strength of the relevant currency against the US dollar over the prior 12 months and price movements over the prior 12 months compared to those in New York City as the base.

Rank 2011	Rank 2010	Mvmt	City	Country	Region
1	1	—	Luanda	Angola	Middle East and Africa
2	2	—	Tokyo	Japan	Asia Pacific
3	3	—	N'Djamena	Chad	Middle East and Africa
4	4	—	Moscow	Russia	Europe
5	5	—	Geneva	Switzerland	Europe
6	6	—	Osaka	Japan	Asia Pacific
7	8	+1	Zurich	Switzerland	Europe
8	11	+3	Singapore	Singapore	Asia Pacific
9	8	−1	Hong Kong	China	Asia Pacific
10	21	+11	São Paulo	Brazil	Americas
11	19	+8	Nagoya	Japan	Asia Pacific
12=	7	−5	Libreville	Gabon	Middle East and Africa
12=	29	+17	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Americas
14	24	+10	Sydney	Australia	Asia Pacific
15	11	−4	Oslo	Norway	Europe
16	22	+6	Bern	Switzerland	Europe
17	10	−7	Copenhagen	Denmark	Europe
18	17	−1	London	United Kingdom	Europe
19	14	−5	Seoul	South Korea	Asia Pacific
20	16	−4	Beijing	China	Asia Pacific
21=	25	+4	Shanghai	China	Asia Pacific
21=	33	+12	Melbourne	Australia	Asia Pacific
23	23	—	Niamey	Niger	Middle East and Africa
24	19	−5	Tel Aviv	Israel	Middle East and Africa
25	13	−12	Victoria	Seychelles	Middle East and Africa
25	15	−10	Milan	Italy	Europe
27	17	−10	Paris	France	Europe
28	67	+39	Ougadougou	Burkina Faso	Middle East and Africa
29	30	+1	St. Petersburg	Russia	Europe
30	60	+30	Perth	Australia	Asia Pacific
31	55	+24	Brisbane	Australia	Asia Pacific
32	27	−5	New York City	United States	Americas
33	70	+37	Brasilia	Brazil	Americas
34	26	−8	Rome	Italy	Europe
34	74	+40	Canberra	Australia	Asia Pacific
36	28	−8	Vienna	Austria	Europe
37	38	−1	Nouméa	New Caledonia	Asia Pacific
38	38	—	Guangzhou	China	Asia Pacific
39	76	+37	Stockholm	Sweden	Europe
39	62	+23	Djibouti	Djibouti	Middle East and Africa
41	62	+21	Lagos	Nigeria	Middle East and Africa
42	31	−9	Helsinki	Finland	Europe
43	42	−1	Shenzhen	China	Asia Pacific
44	32	−12	Dakar	Senegal	Middle East and Africa
44	141	+97	Khartoum	Sudan	Middle East and Africa
46	90	+44	Adelaide	Australia	Asia Pacific
47	47	—	Prague	Czech Republic	Europe
48	36	−12	Baku	Azerbaijan	Asia Pacific
49	33	−16	Bangui	Central African Republic	Middle East and Africa
50	35	−15	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Europe
51	100	+49	Caracas	Venezuela	Americas
52	N/A	N/A	Taipei	Republic of China	Asia Pacific
59	76	+17	Toronto	Canada	Americas
65	N/A	N/A	Vancouver	Canada	Americas
67	84	−17	Abu Dhabi	United Arab Emirates	Middle East and Africa
69	N/A	N/A	Jakarta	Indonesia	Asia Pacific
77	55	−22	Los Angeles	United States	Americas
79	N/A	N/A	Montreal	Canada	Americas
81	55	−26	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	Middle East and Africa
85	N/A	N/A	New Delhi	India	Asia Pacific
88	N/A	N/A	Bangkok	Thailand	Asia Pacific
95	N/A	N/A	Mumbai	India	Asia Pacific
96	N/A	N/A	Calgary	Canada	Americas
103	83	−20	Amman	Jordan	Middle East and Africa
104	N/A	N/A	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	Asia Pacific
108	91	−17	Chicago	United States	Americas
108	111	+3	Washington	United States	Americas
114	N/A	N/A	Ottawa	Canada	Americas
131	151	+20	Johannesburg	South Africa	Middle East and Africa
136	N/A	N/A	Hanoi	Vietnam	Asia Pacific
144	N/A	N/A	Aberdeen	United Kingdom	Europe
148	N/A	N/A	Glasgow	United Kingdom	Europe
150	N/A	N/A	Birmingham	United Kingdom	Europe
158	171	+13	Cape Town	South Africa	Middle East and Africa
178	N/A	N/A	Belfast	United Kingdom	Europe
180	N/A	N/A	Bangalore	India	Asia Pacific
186	N/A	N/A	Portland, Oregon	United States	Americas
197	N/A	N/A	Winston-Salem	United States	Americas
207	N/A	N/A	Tunis	Tunisia	Middle East and Africa
211	N/A	N/A	Addis Ababa	Ethiopia	Middle East and Africa
212	N/A	N/A	La Paz	Bolivia	Americas
213	N/A	N/A	Managua	Nicaragua	Americas
214	N/A	N/A	Karachi	Pakistan	Asia Pacific

Economist Intelligence Unit

The Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide Cost of Living ranking is based on price data that are adjusted for recent exchange-rate movements. The price of housing, generally the largest cost of living, is not included as this tends to be provided by the company and does not factor in adjusting the salary of the expatriate employee.

Top ten locations surveyed (2011)

Rank 2011	Rank 2010	Mvmt	City	Country
1	1	—	Tokyo	Japan
2	2	—	Oslo	Norway
3	4	+1	Osaka	Japan
4	3	−1	Paris	France
5	7	+2	Zurich	Switzerland
6	8	+2	Sydney	Australia
7	9	+2	Melbourne	Australia
8	5	−3	Frankfurt	Germany
9	12	+3	Geneva	Switzerland
10	11	+1	Singapore	Singapore

Bottom ten locations surveyed (2011)

Rank 2011	Rank 2010	Mvmt	City	Country
124	123	−1	Dhaka	Bangladesh
124	128	+4	Manila	Philippines
126	125	−1	Panama City	Panama
126	127	+1	Algiers	Algeria
128	124	−4	Jeddah	Saudi Arabia
129	129	—	New Delhi	India
130	132	+2	Tehran	Iran
131	132	+1	Mumbai	India
132	129	−3	Tunis	Tunisia
133	134	+1	Karachi	Pakistan

ECA International

The top 20 most expensive cities for expatriates according to surveys of almost 400 cities released in March 2010 and 2009 by ECA International. Surveys are done every March and September. The survey does not include certain living costs such as accommodation, utilities (electricity, gas, water costs), car purchase and school fees. These are usually compensated for separately in expatriate packages from cost of living allowances.

2010	City	2009
1	Tokyo, Japan	1
2	Oslo, Norway	4
3	Luanda, Angola	6
4	Nagoya, Japan	7
5	Yokohama, Japan	2
6	Stavanger, Norway	4
7	Kobe, Japan	3
8	Copenhagen, Denmark	8
9	Geneva, Switzerland	9
10	Zürich, Switzerland	10
11	Bern, Switzerland	13
12	Basel, Switzerland	11
13	Libreville, Gabon	12
14	Helsinki, Finland	15
15	Moscow, Russia	29
16	Paris, France	16
17	Abidjan, Ivory Coast	17
18	Abuja, Nigeria	19
19	Tel Aviv, Israel	24
20	Seoul, Korea Republic	102

See also

• Expatriate
• Global city
• World's most livable cities
• Quality of Living Survey
• List of the richest cities in the world
• Megacity
• Worldwide ERC

External links

• Mercer Cost of Living Survey
• Finfacts Ireland
• BBC News
• CNNMoney.com article about the survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit
• Global/Worldwide Cost of Living
• ECA International Cost of Living Survey March 2010
• Business Week June 0622_most_expensive_cities/1.htm The Worlds Most Expensive Cities
• Wall Street Journal Japan gets cheaper, and more expensive