The Most Expensive Cities for Expats: Here’s the List
Hong Kong is once again the world’s most expensive city to live in for expats.
New research from ECA International, which looked at the priciest cities for overseas workers, found cities in Asia made up half of the top 10 most expensive locations, including Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul.
Hong Kong has been the most expensive city on ECA’s list since it started compiling its ranking in 2019.
New York was second on the list after being fourth last year, with high inflation a key reason for its move higher. Geneva, London and Tokyo round out the top five.
Hong Kong’s high cost of living comes as thousands of residents have left the city in recent months amid the city’s tight quarantine requirements in fighting Covid-19, restrictions that contrast sharply from much of the rest of the world.
ECA, a consulting firm which has been researching cost-of-living data for 50 years, conducts surveys to help businesses calculate allowances for employees who work abroad. The firm tracks prices of consumer goods and services in hundreds of locations around the world.
ECA used the cost of different goods from coffee at a cafe to a pound of tomatoes as examples to show the difference in expenses among cities.
One kilogram (2.2 pounds) of tomatoes, for example, was $11.51 in Hong Kong, compared with $6.55 in New York. One liter of milk in Hong Kong cost $4.39 compared with New York’s $2.36, ECA said.
Prices among the top 10 costliest cities for expats have risen the most significantly in New York and London, ECA said. It attributed those increases mostly to a jump in rental costs.
ECA said Paris fell out of the top 30 most expensive cities. Rankings for Madrid, Rome and Brussels also fell, ECA said. The firm attributed the European Union countries’ decline in the rankings to the euro’s performance.
San Francisco ranked as the 11th costliest city for expats. Besides New York, it was the only other U.S. city in ECA’s top 20.
Here’s a list of the world’s most expensive cities for expats to live in.
1. Hong Kong
2. New York
3. Geneva
4. London
5. Tokyo
6. Tel Aviv
7. Zurich
8. Shanghai
9. Guangzhou
10. Seoul
The Most Expensive Cities for Expats: Here’s the List
Hong Kong once again took the top spot, followed by New York and Geneva, according to ECA International.
Source:https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-most-expensive-cities-for-expats-heres-the-list-11654695707
