The World's Most Expensive City

Moscow again "won" this year's competition as the world's most expensive city. The details:

The cost of living for expatriates in the Russian capital is nearly 35 percent higher than in New York, which served as the base city for the survey.

In Moscow, a luxury two-bedroom apartment will cost an expat $4,000 a month; a CD rings up at $24.83; one copy of an international daily newspaper is $6.30; and a fast-food hamburger meal totals $4.80.

The rest of the top five are as follows:

2. London
3. Seoul
4. Tokyo
5. Hong Kong

For those of you in the U.S. that are wondering, here are our two "winners":

New York and Los Angeles were the only two North American cities to rank among the highest 50, though both fell in the rankings due to a depreciating U.S. dollar, Mercer reported. The Big Apple dropped five places to No. 15, while Los Angeles fell to No. 42 from No. 29 in 2006.

And, on the low end:

Ranking as the least expensive city for the fifth year in a row was Paraguay's capital of Asuncion, where the cost of living is half that of New York, Mercer estimated.

A few thoughts from me:

1. I LOVE Moscow (I've been there three times), but it is outrageously expensive. Seems like there's no end in sight to the increasing prices, either. An apartment for $4,000 a month? Yikes! (And believe me, I've seen their apartments. They're fine, but certainly not even "average" by American standards.)

2. I like London too (been there twice.) It has more "charm" to me than Moscow, but Moscow has a much deeper and compelling history and society (IMO.)

3. I never realized that there were so many outrageously expensive places to live. I thought NYC was off the map, and the best it could muster was #15.

4. Sounds like it's cheaper to live in Asuncion than even living in the small town in Iowa where I was raised. Who knew?

5. Where you live makes a HUGE difference in your net worth! I've suggested people living in expensive areas to consider moving to save money (something people hate to hear), but it really can save you a boatload of money. Want more details? See these posts:

• Move, Save Money, Become a Multiple Millionaire -- All in One Step

• Yes, Moving to a Cheaper Cost-of-Living City Can Make You Rich

• How Moving to a Cheaper Cost-of-Living City Can Make You Rich

• 8 Cheap Places You'd Want to Live (And How to Find More)

Comments

[plonkee]

Booo.

London is miles better than Moscow. We're so exciting we can form orderly queues of one, and moan incessantly about the weather.

[Olga]

I live in Moscow. I'm a Russian citizen, not an expat. FMF, you've been to Moscow and maybe you know the real situation better than me, because I'm not exposed to the places visited by expats and foreigners. However, I think I can provide the opinion of somebody who is.

Just a few days ago I read an article about this report by an expat, who has been living in Moscow for several years. Actually, he is very much surprised that Moscow is considered the world's most expensive city and thinks the report is questionable. He says he can hardly find a place where a cup of coffee costs $6.18 - that's the price stated in the report. He also says that none of his expat friends, even very rich ones, rents an apartment at $4000-4500. Also, the cost of transportation in Moscow is only $0.65 for a ticket, compared to $6 in London.

He says that Moscow can be very expensive for somebody who really wants to splurge, but normally it is not as expensive as stated in the report. He tried to contact Mercer (the consultancy that led the survey) representatives to ask what Moscow restaurants/stores they took into view when working on the report, but got no answer. He concludes that this report, true or not, must be favorable for expats in Russia, because it means they will get bigger compensations from their employers.

P.S. The article is available at this link, but only in Russian, unfortunately. Someone willing to get the main idea of the text may try Google Translate of Babel Fish to translate it.
http://www.runewsweek.ru/rubrics/?rubric=society&rid=1943

[dezza]

I agree with Olga. I'm a Canadian living in Hong Kong so I have a bit of insight on these 'most expensive place to live' surveys. It must be noted that the cost of living is for expats who live 'western style' lives, and live that way almost exclusively. Of course, Columbian coffee is going to cost $6.18 at fancy coffee shops. Eating fancy cheeses, drinking fine wines, in cities that dont' produce or import them en mass will of course make it expensive there! If some expats bothered to live more like the locals and not rent houses the size of those back home their costs would fall dramatically! I see this with many of the expat friends I have here.

The reason New York is 'only' 15th in costs is because the lifestyles of those expats is pretty much the same way that people in New York live from day to day.

[dezza]

i do agree about your living assertion that where you live will determine your wealth. With HK's low income tax (16%) and no capital gains taxes , it will allow me to retire years in advance!