These are the 10 Most Expensive Cities in the World
Who’s ready for another top 10 list? C’mon, you know they’re fun.
Last time around, The Blaze discussed the top 10 “economically confident” states in the U.S. (and, yes, we are well aware the District of Columbia is not a state). So, let’s shake things up but keep it in that same vein. Let’s take a look at the top 10 “most expensive cities” in the world.
A new report from the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey compares the price of hundreds of products and services, including food, rent, luxury items, and transportation, in 131 cities. The prices are then indexed to New York City, which has a score of 100. Zurich, for example, beats Tokyo by a score of 170 to 166, which means that the cost of living in those cities is 70 percent and 66 percent more expensive than living in NYC, as measured in U.S. dollars.
By using this method, and by using NYC as a measuring stick, the survey derives the most expensive metro areas in the world. Unsurprisingly (depending on your view of the U.S. economy), no American cities made the top 10. Maybe this is due to the fact that the Cost of Living Survey doesn’t factor in real estate prices.
“Looking deeper down the list, some surprises emerge,” writes Derek Thompson of The Atlantic. “New York City fell below Los Angeles into a tie with Chicago. Globetrotters might be surprised to learn that Cleveland finished just above Rio. The three cities at the bottom of the list were Karachi, Pakistan, Mumbai, and Tehran, all of which finished around 50, suggesting that they are half as expensive as New York City.”
And although this list (like most top 10 lists) is fun in its own way, Thompson raises an excellent question: What makes a city expensive, anyway?
It’s tempting to shrug it off and reason that prices are simply higher in wealthier countries. But Thompson believes it’s much more than that.
“It begins with trade,” he writes. “You can think of an economy as making two kinds of stuff. There’s the stuff you can put in boxes and trade, like auto parts, and the stuff you can’t put in boxes or trade, like hair cuts. If a country gets good at making stuff it can trade for money, it becomes richer. As export income and investment flows in, incomes rise, wages rise, and prices rise across the board. Even the prices for the (utterly non-boxable) haircuts.”
This theory, which he notes is a simplified version of the Balassa-Samuelson effect, partly accounts for dramatic price differences between cities; but it still doesn’t explain the entire story.
“Restrictive urban policy raises the price of rent in similarly productive cities. Energy taxes raise the price of gas. Tariffs raise the price of imports,” Thompson notes.
He continues:
In Switzerland, rising prices over the last few years have little to do with gas prices, or new zoning law, or the rising productivity of Zurich’s workers (not to impeach the industrious Swiss!). Instead, they have much more to do with Greece and Germany. The debt crisis sweeping Europe has created a flight to safety for investors. Swiss Francs are considered safer, and the rising Franc has pushed up prices. Japan and Australia have also seen strong currency appreciation over the last few years, which made it relatively expensive for foreigners.
In cheaper cities throughout the developing world, especially in Asia and the Middle East, governments have used price controls to restrain the appreciation of their currency. This strategy keeps auto parts cheap, which makes the West buy more of them. But it also keeps hair cuts cheap, which means barbers have weaker income.
Therefore, if Zurich is indeed the “most expensive city,” this doesn’t mean that it is the most expensive in everything. For example, while Moscow has much cheaper bread and gas than, say, Hong Kong, its hotel rates are still among the priciest in the world.
The reasons for these price differences are so numerous and varied – and subject to unexpected changes – that to explain and/or catalog them all, as Thompson puts writes, it “would probably require a very long book.”
Unfortunately, we only have about 700 words. In the meantime, enjoy this list of the “most expensive” cities in the world:
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Larry E
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 3:03pmHmmm, my #1 son and his wife are living in Geneva at present. Sure glad it’s not me.
Report Post »jakartaman
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 2:09pmHow the heck was Hong Kong missed!!!
Report Post »MrKnowItAll
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 2:08pmWhat does this matter if you are a Drunk Or Drug Addict? Which today there are many. How about a headline that reads most expensive places to live if your not addicted to anything. Oh! By the Way….Thanks Doc. Those Vics are the Bomb. Can you add in some Oxy? My butt hurts from cheap toilet paper. Gotta stop conserve it to and stop using both sides.
Report Post »piper60
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 10:08amI am so glad I don’t live in any of these towns.
Report Post »autofixer
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 9:53amIt is like anything else; why are they expensive? Because they are worth it!
Report Post »Keith W Gordon
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 8:39amThis list must be deeply flawed. By any measure, London is almost twice as expensive as Frankfurt.
Report Post »I have lived in both areas. Food, Rent, Taxes, Merchandise are all more expernsive in London.
EqualJustice
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 8:59amHow long ago was that? The EURO has been trashed…
Report Post »notreally
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 7:25amAs to quality of life, this list means nothing. I watched Europe shrink over many years (airline pilot): smaller and smaller cars, apartments — virtually no seperate housing. Good steaks? Forget about it! Parking spaces once designed for parallel parking can now be used for parking vertical to the curb! Gas is over $9/gallon in Oslo.
That’s how socialism works: the elite rulers make everthing they deem “not necessary” so expensive that it shrinks or dissappears.
Europe is oppressive. The old buildings are impressive — the people are unthinking happy dogs, content to have their masters determine every aspect in their lives.
Report Post »libtardian-refugee
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 9:13amWhen first looking at the list, I wondered if it was good or bad that no USA city was on it. You had a very good post that answered my question. Hopefully we never make it there
Report Post »BehindBlueEyes
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 6:47am“the District of Columbia is not a state”
Report Post »That is correct. It is actually a perpendicular universe unto itself.
Obama_Sham
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 6:56amNo one knows what its like to be the bad man… To be the sad man…
Report Post »BehindBlueEyes
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 8:57amSometimes I’m bad, sometimes I’m sad, but most times I’m mad. That’s how I view it from behind blue eyes.
Report Post »ALL-IN
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 6:03amhey Jordan 36—Take a hike !!!
Report Post »ALL-IN
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 5:57amNone of them speak favorable about us , Lets just stay home for a couple of years, their opinions might change. We have much work to do at home.1st. get rid of freedom haters. Then show the world what capitalism unleashed can really do. UNLEASHED.Screw all these outragious regulations and all the fat from DC. Illiminate everything holding us back, I was born FREE and I WILL die FREE. Hey Obama–SCREW YOU !!!
Report Post »PowerPC
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:51pmI really do not think this is a l;ist any city really wants to be on. The cost of living is high enough in the US that we can barely keep up monetarily. Just imagine paying 70% higher living costs than that of New York City!
Report Post »concealled9mms
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:56pmhey wheres washington dc wheres philly wheres detroit ?
Report Post »mattwakulik
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:36pmhaha. detroit would be #1 on the opposite list! probably beats out baku, azerbaijan
http://hassam.hubpages.com/hub/25-Most-Dirtiest-Cities-In-The-World
Report Post »MIBUGNU2
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:31pmI was thinking Dearborn, MI
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 6:41amWould have been nice for there to have actually been a “list” in the article, one that could be shared on social media sites etc.
Report Post »VISUALS communicate more quickly and more permanently than words.
The communists marxists and socialists in the democrat party have mastered this.
We still aren’t even TRYING.
Aaarrrgghhhh!!
heyjim55
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:48pmI was surprised that Moscow was not in the top ten, but maybe it’s political everyone that I know that travels a lot say Moscow is extremly expensive.
Report Post »rovinrobin
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 6:02amI lived in Moscow from 2005-2010 and it was listed as the most expensive city on some list at that time. I did visit Norway during that time and it was just as expensive as Moscow. It depends on the basket of goods you use for comparison. Booze is cheap in Moscow, while in Norway I was asked to pay almost $50 for a pitcher of beer!
Report Post »Git-R-Done
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:39pmNorway and Switzerland are both not part of the European Union, which is a good thing for both countries.
Report Post »mattwakulik
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:49pmyeah and how long till frankfurt falls from the list?
Report Post »bikerr
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:22pmUnfortunately, we only have about 700 words. What the he!! does that mean? I say take your time use just 699 words…Think.
Report Post »mattwakulik
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:39pmhaha good point!
Report Post »Soquel by the Creek
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:13pmI LOVE the United States. However, I’ve lived and worked overseas in #2, #4, #6, #7, #8, and #9. As places to live and work, #2 (Tokyo) and #9 (Singapore) blow Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Chicago out of the water. Although more expensive, these cities are safer and are just easier places in which to live (well, okay, once you learn enough combat Japanese to survive).
Another reason that these cities are in the top ten is that the United States Federal Reserve and the current Administration have decided to trash the U.S. dollar.
Report Post »SGT Rock
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 8:27amSo true.
Report Post »mattwakulik
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:12pmwill any united states city ever make that list under obama ??? no chance!
Report Post »CatB
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:22pmGo to Epcot (Disney World).. soon .. before the M.O. food police shut down the French Cafe or the English Pub .. etc. You can eat and shop your way around the world. All authentic and served by people who come from the home countries. It really is a great way to meet people from other countries.
Report Post »mattwakulik
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:38pmneed an australian interpreter?? just kidding!
Report Post »1casawizard
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:07pmGood thinking, Bryan. There are more places to see in U.S. in a lifetime and still return to your home without hassle. You can buy an RV and go to Alaska and Maine, come home, sell it and get some money back. One day, but not today, I’ll do it. I’m retired mechanic, but still working. I’m gonna make it happen.
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