Moving to a new country is one of the most expensive endeavours one can undertake. Enter Mercer’s 2016 Cost of Living ranking, a survey of the most expensive cities for expats.
With the UK recently voting in favour of Brexit, we at Atlas & Boots are reassessing our future. Prior to the result, we fully expected to return to France after our next big trip. Now we may have to look further afield. Whatever we decide, one useful way to choose where our future lies is to compare the cost of living in our new city compared to our old, currently London.
comparing the Cost of living
Consultancy firm Mercer initially developed the list to help multinational companies and governments determine wages and allowances for their expat workforce. Mercer’s survey analyses the price of over 200 goods and services in over 360 cities with substantial expat communities across the globe.
Mercer uses New York as its base city and the US dollar as the base currency. The results differ from other surveys such as the Economist’s Worldwide Cost of Living as Mercer focuses specifically on products bought by expats.
Region by region
Cities in the US have climbed up the ranking due to the strength of the US dollar against other major currencies, in addition to the significant drop of cities in other regions. New York is up five places to 11th, the highest-ranked city in the region.
Canadian cities continued to drop in this year’s ranking mainly due to the weak Canadian dollar. The country’s highest-ranked city, Vancouver (142), fell 23 places. In South America, Buenos Aires (41) ranked as the costliest city despite dropping 22 places from last year. San Juan in Puerto Rico (67) follows as the second most expensive location in the region, climbing 22 spots.
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Two European cities are among the top 10 most expensive cities for expats. At number three in the global ranking, Zurich remains the most costly European city, followed by Geneva (8), down three spots from last year.
Despite dropping off the top spot on the global list, Luanda, Angola (2) remains the highest ranking city in Africa. Kinshasa (6) follows, rising seven places since 2015.
This year, Hong Kong (1) emerged as the most expensive city for expats both in Asia and globally as a consequence of Luanda’s drop in the ranking due to the weakening of its local currency. Singapore (4) remained steady while Tokyo (5) climbed six places. Shanghai (7) and Beijing (10) follow.
Most expats do not contribute to their home country’s social programs. This comprehensive guide shows expats how to build wealth overseas with index funds.
most expensive cities for expats Ranking
Since 2015 a number of cities have changed position, as can be seen in this graphic from last year’s ranking.
Sort the table to view the ranking by either the least or most expensive cities for expats by 2015 and 2016.
2016 2015 City Country
1 2 Hong Kong Hong Kong, China
2 1 Luanda Angola
3 3 Zurich Switzerland
4 4 Singapore Singapore
5 11 Tokyo Japan
6 13 Kinshasa Dem. Rep. of the Congo
7 6 Shanghai China
8 5 Geneva Switzerland
9 10 Ndjamena Chad
10 7 Beijing China
11 16 New York City United States
12 14 Shenzhen China
13 9 Bern Switzerland
13 20 Lagos Nigeria
15 8 Seoul South Korea
16 17 Victoria Seychelles
17 12 London United Kingdom
18 15 Guangzhou China
19 18 Tel Aviv Israel
20 35 Abuja Nigeria
21 23 Dubai United Arab Emirates
22 32 Osaka Japan
23 42 Brazzaville Congo
24 24 Copenhagen Denmark
25 33 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates
26 37 San Francisco United States
27 36 Los Angeles United States
28 30 Libreville Gabon
29 26 Nanjing China
30 27 Tianjin China
31 21 Shenyang China
32 39 Noumea New Caledonia
33 24 Qingdao China
34 29 Chengdu China
34 42 Chicago United States
36 22 Conakry Guinea
37 52 Honolulu United States
38 50 Washington United States
39 28 Yangon Myanmar
40 55 Djibouti Djibouti
41 19 Buenos Aires Argentina
42 31 Sydney Australia
43 41 Taipei Taiwan
44 46 Paris France
45 56 Miami United States
45 63 Dhaka Bangladesh
47 49 Dublin Ireland
47 62 Accra Ghana
47 64 Boston United States
50 44 Beirut Lebanon
50 53 Milan Italy
50 54 Amman Jordan
50 60 Yaounde Cameroon
54 56 Vienna Austria
54 80 Nagoya Japan
56 58 Abidjan C?te d'Ivoire
57 71 Riyadh Saudi Arabia
58 59 Rome Italy
59 38 Oslo Norway
60 76 Port Of Spain Trinidad & Tobago
61 71 White Plains United States
62 77 Dallas United States
62 Bangui Central African Republic
64 67 Helsinki Finland
64 69 Amsterdam Netherlands
66 127 Ashkhabad Turkmenistan
67 50 Moscow Russia
67 89 San Juan Puerto Rico
69 48 Perth Australia
70 78 Douala Cameroon
71 47 Melbourne Australia
71 88 Morristown United States
71 91 Manama Bahrain
74 45 Bangkok Thailand
75 92 Houston United States
76 99 Doha Qatar
77 87 Munich Germany
78 103 Atlanta United States
79 83 Dakar Senegal
80 75 Manila Philippines
81 104 Panama City Panama
82 74 Mumbai India
83 106 Seattle United States
84 106 Stockholm Sweden
85 82 Aberdeen United Kingdom
86 94 Luxembourg Luxembourg
86 102 Brussels Belgium
88 79 Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei
88 90 Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam
88 98 Frankfurt Germany
91 115 Minneapolis United States
91 120 Cairo Egypt
93 99 Jakarta Indonesia
94 110 San Jose Costa Rica Costa Rica
94 117 Muscat Oman
96 66 Brisbane Australia
96 80 Birmingham United Kingdom
98 61 Auckland New Zealand
98 65 Canberra Australia
100 106 Berlin Germany
101 99 Istanbul Turkey
102 71 Adelaide Australia
103 117 Kuwait City Kuwait
103 122 Detroit United States
105 115 Madrid Spain
106 86 Hanoi Vietnam
107 114 Dusseldorf Germany
108 70 Santiago Chile
108 130 St. Louis United States
110 124 Barcelona Spain
110 133 Cleveland United States
112 130 Pittsburgh United States
113 124 Hamburg Germany
114 111 Riga Latvia
115 120 Bamako Mali
116 104 Nairobi Kenya
117 135 Portland United States
118 142 Phnom Penh Cambodia
119 83 Montevideo Uruguay
119 109 Glasgow United Kingdom
121 151 Jeddah Saudi Arabia
122 111 Pointe A Pitre Guadeloupe
123 83 Wellington New Zealand
124 133 Cotonou Benin
124 142 Prague Czech Rep.
126 149 Guatemala City Guatemala
127 154 Quito Ecuador
128 40 Sao Paulo Brazil
129 139 Stuttgart Germany
130 132 New Delhi India
130 140 Casablanca Morocco
132 144 Lome Togo
132 147 Lyon France
134 127 Belfast United Kingdom
134 145 Lisbon Portugal
136 137 Bratislava Slovakia
137 136 Athens Greece
137 162 Tashkent Uzbekistan
139 97 Kigali Rwanda
139 129 Colombo Sri Lanka
141 122 Lima Peru
142 119 Vancouver Canada
143 126 Toronto Canada
143 162 Addis Ababa Ethiopia
145 96 Port Au Prince Haiti
146 153 Ouagadougou Burkina Faso
147 157 Winston Salem United States
148 165 Santo Domingo Dominican Rep.
149 155 Niamey Niger
150 155 Tallinn Estonia
151 113 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
152 152 St.Petersburg Russia
152 160 Kingston Jamaica
154 161 Ljubljana Slovenia
155 140 Montreal Canada
156 67 Rio De Janeiro Brazil
157 168 Harare Zimbabwe
158 157 Chennai India
159 167 Zagreb Croatia
160 169 Nurnberg Germany
160 177 San Salvador El Salvador
162 146 Calgary Canada
162 159 Limassol Cyprus
164 93 Maputo Mozambique
165 170 Budapest Hungary
165 172 Leipzig Germany
167 171 Vilnius Lithuania
168 175 Rabat Morocco
169 137 Mexico City Mexico
170 Havana Cuba
171 162 Ottawa Canada
172 33 Baku Azerbaijan
172 178 Bucharest Romania
174 179 Dar Es Salaam Tanzania
175 174 Port Louis Mauritius
176 184 Kiev Ukraine
177 175 Warsaw Poland
178 173 Nouakchott Mauritania
179 202 Banjul Gambia
180 183 Bangalore India
180 188 Islamabad Pakistan
182 187 Sofia Bulgaria
183 165 Asuncion Paraguay
184 195 La Paz Bolivia
185 181 Algiers Algeria
186 193 Tirana Albania
187 184 Kampala Uganda
188 190 Tegucigalpa Honduras
189 192 Yerevan Armenia
190 148 Bogota Colombia
190 150 Brasilia Brazil
192 199 Managua Nicaragua
193 196 Belgrade Serbia
194 193 Kolkata India
195 196 Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina
196 94 Almaty Kazakhstan
197 182 Monterrey Mexico
198 198 Tbilisi Georgia
199 203 Skopje Macedonia
200 180 Lusaka Zambia
201 188 Gaborone Botswana
201 205 Karachi Pakistan
203 204 Tunis Tunisia
204 200 Minsk Belarus
205 191 Johannesburg South Africa
206 186 Blantyre Malawi
207 207 Bishkek Kyrgyzstan
208 200 Cape Town South Africa
209 206 Windhoek Namibia
