List of most expensive cities for expatriate employees

These are lists of the world's most expensive cities for expatriate employees (not residents), according to the Mercer,[1] ECA International[2] and Xpatulator.com [3] cost-of-living surveys. Other surveys from online collaborative indices, such as Numbeo,[4] Expatistan,[5] or Eardex[6] 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, 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
Hong Kong, China
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Tokyo, Japan
Singapore

Mercer's Cost of Living surveys are taken in March of each year. The survey covers 207 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 it. 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.

Top ten locations surveyed (2022)[7]
Rank City Country
1Hong Kong China
2Zürich  Switzerland
3Geneva
4Basel
5Bern
6Tel Aviv Israel
7New York United States
8Singapore Singapore
9Tokyo Japan
10Beijing China
Top ten locations surveyed (2021)[8][9]
Rank City Country
1Ashgabat Turkmenistan
2Hong Kong China
3Beirut Lebanon
4Tokyo Japan
5Zürich  Switzerland
6Shanghai China
7Singapore Singapore
8Geneva  Switzerland
9Beijing China
10Bern  Switzerland
Top ten locations surveyed (2020)[10]
Rank City Country
1Hong Kong China
2Ashgabat Turkmenistan
3Tokyo Japan
4Zürich  Switzerland
5Singapore Singapore
6New York United States
7Shanghai China
8Bern  Switzerland
9Geneva
10Beijing China
Top ten locations surveyed (2019)[11]
Rank City Country
1Hong Kong China
2Tokyo Japan
3Singapore Singapore
4Seoul South Korea
5Zürich  Switzerland
6Shanghai China
7Ashgabat Turkmenistan
8Beijing China
9New York United States
10Shenzhen China
Top ten locations surveyed (2018)[12]
Rank City Country
1Hong Kong China
2Tokyo Japan
3Zürich  Switzerland
4Singapore Singapore
5Seoul South Korea
6Luanda Angola
7Shanghai China
8N’Djamena Chad
9Beijing China
10Bern  Switzerland
Top ten locations surveyed (2017)[13]
Rank City Country
1Luanda Angola
2Hong Kong China
3Tokyo Japan
4Zürich  Switzerland
5Singapore Singapore
6Seoul South Korea
7Geneva  Switzerland
8Shanghai China
9New York United States
10Bern  Switzerland
Top ten locations surveyed (2016)[14][15]
Rank City Country
1Hong Kong China
2Luanda Angola
3Zürich  Switzerland
4Singapore Singapore
5Tokyo Japan
6Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo
7Shanghai China
8Geneva  Switzerland
9N’Djamena Chad
10Beijing China
Top ten locations surveyed (2015)[16][15]
Rank City Country
1Luanda Angola
2Hong Kong China
3Zürich  Switzerland
4Singapore Singapore
5Geneva  Switzerland
6Shanghai China
7Beijing
8Seoul South Korea
9Bern  Switzerland
10N’Djamena Chad

ECA International
Zürich, Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland
Basel, Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland

Every March and September, ECA International calculates the cost of living for expatriates in almost 400 cities around the world. 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.

Top 20 cities surveyed (2022)[17]
Ranking City Country
1Hong Kong China
2New York United States
3Geneva  Switzerland
4London United Kingdom
5Tokyo Japan
6Tel Aviv Israel
7Zurich  Switzerland
8Shanghai China
9Guangzhou
10Seoul South Korea
Top 20 cities surveyed (2021)[18]
Ranking City Country
1Hong Kong China
2Tokyo Japan
3Geneva  Switzerland
4New York United States
5London United Kingdom
6Zurich  Switzerland
7Tel Aviv Israel
8Seoul South Korea
9Shanghai China
10Guangzhou
Top 20 cities surveyed (2020)[19]
Ranking City Country
1Ashgabat Turkmenistan
2Zürich  Switzerland
3Geneva
4Basel
5Bern
6Hong Kong China
7Tokyo Japan
8Tel Aviv Israel
9Jerusalem
10Yokohama Japan
Top 20 cities surveyed (2019)[20]
Ranking City Country
1Ashgabat Turkmenistan
2Zürich  Switzerland
3Geneva
4Hong Kong China
5Basel  Switzerland
6Bern
7Tokyo Japan
8Seoul South Korea
9Tel Aviv Israel
10Shanghai China
Top 20 cities surveyed (2018)[21]
Ranking City Country
1Ashgabat Turkmenistan
2Geneva  Switzerland
3Zürich
4Basel
5Bern
6Hong Kong China
7Seoul South Korea
8Tokyo Japan
9Oslo Norway
10Stavanger
Top 20 cities surveyed (2017)[22]
Ranking City Country
1Luanda Angola
2Hong Kong China
3Zürich  Switzerland
4Geneva
5Basel
6Bern
7Tokyo Japan
8Seoul South Korea
9Caracas Venezuela
10Khartoum Sudan
Top 20 cities surveyed (2016)[23]
Ranking City Country
1Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo
2Zürich  Switzerland
3Geneva
4Basel
5Bern
6Freetown Sierra Leone
7Tokyo Japan
8Luanda Angola
9Hong Kong China
10Shanghai China
Top 20 cities surveyed (2015)[2]
Ranking City Country
1Juba South Sudan
2Luanda Angola
3Zürich  Switzerland
4Geneva
5Bern
6Basel
7Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo
8Shanghai China
9Beijing
10Seoul South Korea

See also

References
  1. "Mercer's 2013 Cost of Living Survey City Rankings – Global Overview". Mercer. July 23, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  2. "Hong Kong now more expensive than Tokyo for expatriates". ECA International. June 11, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  3. "Cost of Living Rankings for 2014". Xpatulator. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  4. "Cost of Living Index for 2012". Numbeo. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
  5. "Expatistan Cost of Living Index". Expatistan. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
  6. Eardex. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
  7. Gilchrist, Karen (2022-06-29). "These are the most expensive places to work abroad in 2022". CNBC. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  8. "Turkmenistan's capital tops list of most expensive cities for expats". BBC News. 22 June 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  9. McKeever, Vicky (2021-06-23). "These are the most expensive cities for working abroad in 2021". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  10. "Mercer's 2020 Cost of Living - City Rankings". Mercer. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  11. "Mercer's 25th annual Cost of Living Survey finds cities in Asia most expensive locations for employees working abroad". Mercer. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
  12. Neild, Barry (2018-06-28). "World's most expensive cities for expats in 2018 revealed". CNN. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  13. "Mercer's 2017 Cost of Living - City Rankings". Mercer. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
  14. "Mercer's 2016 Cost of Living - City Rankings". Mercer. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
  15. https://www.mercer.com/content/dam/mercer/attachments/global/Talent/cost-of-living/gl-2016-cost-of-living-mobility-survey-mercer.pdf
  16. "Mercer's 2015 Cost of Living - City Rankings". Mercer. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
  17. "Hong Kong continues its reign as the most expensive location in the world". www.eca-international.com. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  18. "Hong Kong remains the most expensive location in the world". www.eca-international.com. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  19. "Singapore remains in the top 20 most expensive locations in the world, despite impact of Covid-19". www.eca-international.com. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  20. "Singapore enters the top 15 most expensive locations in the world". www.eca-international.com. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  21. "Hong Kong now the most expensive location in East Asia for expatriates". www.eca-international.com. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  22. "Swiss cities dominate list of most expensive locations in the world for expats". www.eca-international.com. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  23. "Kinshasa tops the global rankings of most expensive cities for expatriates". www.eca-international.com. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
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