Ranking the World's Most Expensive Cities for Expats

The consultancy firm initially developed the list — one of the most comprehensive of its kind – to help multinational companies and governments determine wages and allowances for their expat workforce. Mercer’s methodology analyses the price of over 200 goods and services in over 360 cities that house substantial expat communities across the globe. Mercer uses New York as its base city and the US dollar as the base currency. The results differ from other surveys such as the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Worldwide Cost of Living as Mercer focuses specifically on products bought by expats.

The top ten

The Angolan capital, Luanda, has topped the list for the third year running due to its high of cost of rent and imported goods, as well as ongoing security concerns in the oil-rich nation, which employers and employees must consider. There are the usual suspects in the list with Swiss cities locking down three of the top 10 positions, as well as Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul moving up the rankings. Unsurprisingly, China has two cities, Shanghai and Beijing, near the top, meaning Asian cities account for half the top 10.

Euro slide

Many European currencies have weakened against the US dollar, meaning several European cities have moved down the rankings making them more affordable for expats from the US and outside the Eurozone. Interestingly, it’s not just Eurozone cities experiencing a slide: Moscow has dropped the most — 41 places — from 9th in 2014 to joint 50th with Washington, DC. Only the Swiss cities seemed to buck the trend following an unanticipated move by Switzerland’s central bank to remove a ceiling on the value of the country’s currency, the Swiss Franc.

This article originally appeared on Atlas & Boots — Travel with Abandon and is republished here with permission.

The Rankings