The 20 priciest cities for expats in 2023

But some cities could place a bigger burden on expats’ wallets than others.

With soaring inflation and rising accommodation costs, a new study has revealed that New York is the world’s most expensive city to live in as an expat.

Last year, Hong Kong came first as the most expensive city for international employees to live in, but the rising cost of living at the Big Apple has it seen it leapfrog from second to first place in the ECA International’s Cost of Living Rankings for 2023.

New York isn’t the only entry on the list from the States: San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago rank seventh, 15th and 20th place, respectively. 

It marks the first time San Fransico has broken into the top 10, with the researchers blaming high inflation. 

Asian cities appear most in the ranking but rank lower than last year

ECA International analyzes the cost of consumer goods and services, factoring in rental costs in areas typically inhabited by expats, to rank 207 cities in 120 countries and territories around the world.

According to their data, almost half of the top 20 most expensive cities for expats are based in Asia, with China ranking five times.

Plus, Singapore has broken into the top five for the first time, as skyrocketing rents have seen the city hike from 13th place in 2022 to 5th. Demand for rental homes in the Southeast Asian financial hub has outstripped supply, driving high rent.

But generally, Asian cities have scored lower in ECA International’s Cost of Living Rankings than last year, partly down to lower rates of inflation relative to other countries.

For example, Japan’s capital Tokyo dropped from 5th place to 10th and China’s biggest city, Shanghai, fell from 8th place to 13th.

Europe remains steady

Europe has been broadly experiencing leaping inflation since the start of the pandemic. But according to the data it’s having less of a sharp impact on the cost of living for expats than in the United States.

Most of the European cities in the top 20 have claimed the same spot as last year. 

Geneva, London, and Copenhagen remained in third, fourth and 18th place respectively, meanwhile Zurich in Switzerland made a small jump from 7th to 6th place.

An outlier to this was Istanbul, which climbed 95 spots to 108th place—the biggest riser of the year—on the back of an 80% surge in prices driven by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s economic policies, according to the report.

These are the world’s top 20 most expensive places for expats to live:

• 1. New York, US (2022 ranking: 2)
• 2. Hong Kong, China (1)
• 3. Geneva, Switzerland (3)
• 4. London, UK (4)
• 5. Singapore (13)
• 6. Zurich, Switzerland (7)
• 7. San Francisco, US (11)
• 8. Tel Aviv, Israel (6)
• 9. Seoul, South Korea (10)
• 10. Tokyo, Japan (5)
• 11. Bern, Switzerland (16)
• 12. Dubai, UAE (23)
• 13. Shanghai, China (8)
• 14. Guangzhou, China (9)
• 15. Los Angeles, US (21)
• 16. Shenzhen, China (12)
• 17. Beijing, China (14)
• 18. Copenhagen, Denmark (18)
• 19. Abu Dhabi, UAE (22)
• 20. Chicago, US (25)