Where’s The Most Expensive City In The World?

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

The cost of living crisis is weighing down most of the world – but you would hardly know in the world’s most expensive cities.

Life is still going on as normal in the lavish cafes, bars and restaurants. Designer-label shoppers are still chasing the latest fashions, and even a modest home seems to cost the earth.

But when you’re bringing home a six-figure plus salary, the financial worries most of us have about feeding the kids or keeping warm seem a long way off.

Switzerland is firmly entrenched as the most expensive place to live – but the title of the most expensive city goes to Hamilton, Bermuda.

The latest data published by the cost of living tracker website Numbeo puts six Swiss cities in the top 10 most expensive list worldwide.

Bread Costs A Fiver

Numbeo’s cost of living index rates Hamilton as 42 per cent more expensive to live in than New York.

Shopping in Hamilton is costly, even for the most basic goods.

A loaf of fresh, white bread is £5.59, and a basic combo meal at the local McDonald’s starts at £11.53.

Renting a single bedroomed apartment in the city centre costs renters £2,666 monthly.

The average take-home pay is £4,833 a month.

The website reckons a family of four needs £5,685 a month to get by – without accommodation costs of £3,525 a month to rent a three-bed flat outside the city centre. Then, add another £2,000 a month to live closer to the city centre.

Every family of four needs a monthly income of £10,000 after tax to cover basic living costs in Hamilton.

£13 For A Basic McDonald’s Meal

Meanwhile, the cost of living in Switzerland is palpably more expensive than in the rest of Europe.

Basel, the country’s third largest city behind Zurich and Geneva, is slightly more expensive than the rest, with living costs 28 per cent dearer than in New York.

Astonishingly, that McDonald’s combo meal costing more than £11 in Hamilton is priced even higher in Switzerland – at £13. But a loaf of bread is half the price of Hamilton – tagged at £2.63.

A family of four needs to take home £4,665 monthly to pay the bills – not including rent, which costs £2,574 monthly for a city centre three-bed apartment. The cost falls to £1,996 monthly for living in the suburbs.

To pay the rent and bills in Switzerland, a family needs to clear at least £7,239 monthly

World’s Most Expensive Cities

Here are the world’s most expensive cities ranked by cost of living in relation to New York.

New York equals 100 on the index – Hamilton, at 142, is 42 per cent more expensive than New York, while London, with a score of 74 is 26 per cent cheaper.

Rank	City	Country	Cost of Living Index
1	Hamilton	Bermuda	142
2	Basel	Switzerland	128
3	Zurich	Switzerland	124
4	Lausanne	Switzerland	120
5	Zug	Switzerland	119
6	Bern	Switzerland	116
7	Santa Barbara	USA	112
8	Geneva	Switzerland	107
9	George Town	Cayman Islands	106
10	Honolulu	USA	102
11	New York	USA	100
82	London	UK	74

Most Expensive City On Each Continent

These are the most expensive places to live on each continent, again ranked against New York as the base, scoring 100.

Rank	Continent	City	Country	Cost of Living Index
7	North America	Santa Barbara	USA	112
246	South America	Montevideo	Uruguay	60
318	Africa	Dakar	Senegal	47
38	Oceania	Canberra	Australia	81
23	Asia	Singapore		87
42	Middle East	Netanya	Israel	80
2	Europe	Basel	Switzerland	127
1	Caribbean	Hamilton	Bermuda	142

The World’s Cheapest Cities

The Numbeo cost of living index is made up of data supplied by expats and other nationals posting more than 8 million prices for goods and services across 540 cities.

Peshawar, Pakistan, is the cheapest city listed, with the cost of living 85 per cent cheaper than New York and 127 per cent less than that of the most expensive city – Hamilton.

While Switzerland dominates the top listings, Pakistan does the same for the cheapest ranking cities, with six of the bottom 10 rankings.

Rank	City	Country	Cost of Living Index
531	Bhopal	India	21
532	Lahore	Pakistan	21
533	Giza	Egypt	21
534	Karachi	Pakistan	20
535	Islamabad	Pakistan	20
536	Bucaramanga	Columbia	20
537	Rawalpindi	Pakistan	16
538	Faisalabad	Pakistan	16
539	Multan	Pakistan	16
540	Peshawar	Pakistan	15

Countries With The Best Quality Of Life

The cost of living is not the only measure applied to a city. Quality of life is important as well.

Switzerland scores well for the quality of life – third overall behind The Netherlands and Denmark.

Quality of life scores a range of factors, such as spending power, pollution, home affordability, the cost of living, health, traffic commute times and climate.

Rank	Country	Quality of Life Index
1	Netherlands	197
2	Denmark	195
3	Switzerland	194
4	Luxembourg	193
5	Finland	191
6	Iceland	188
7	Austria	186
8	Oman	185
9	Australia	183
10	Norway	183

Global Property Prices Compared

The Numbeo property index reveals the stark cost of housing worldwide.

The countries with the most expensive homes surprisingly do not include the UK, France, Germany or other European nations until well past the fifties – like Germany (69), Austria (71) and Japan (72).

Britain scores a ranking of 85.

Rank	Country	Price To Income Ratio	Mortgage As Percentage Of Income
1	Syria	87	1089
2	Ghana	79	1938
3	Hong Kong (China)	45	287
4	Sri Lanka	41	664
5	China	35	275
6	Nepal	33	445
7	Cambodia	33	399
8	Philippines	30	288
9	Nigeria	28	508
10	Ethiopia	26	446

World’s Most Expensive Cities FAQ

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