The top 50 Most expensive locations to live - Overall Cost of Living & All Baskets

The most expensive place to live in 2012 is Tokyo based on overall cost of living. Zurich is the most expensive based on the cost of living excluding housing, education, healthcare and transport, where many companies cover these costs on behalf of the employee.






The latest international cost of living rankings are based on data collected during the past 3 months for 768 international locations, covering every country world-wide.

The cost of living data collected is representative of an expatriate lifestyle, while the components of COL are prices for fixed quantities of the same goods and services, inflation and exchange rates. Prices in each location are affected by availability (i.e. supply & demand) as well as local pricing regulations and taxes on goods and services (e.g.premiums on luxury brands). Local inflation is usually representative of local price increases which in turn impacts an expatriates purchasing power in the host country. The exchange rate impacts both the price of imports to the host country and the expatriate assignment salary calculation between the home and host country. The cost of living has a significant impact on the purchasing power of an expatriate’s salary package.



As the overall most expensive place to live, Tokyo has an overall cost of living index of 153.65, followed by Hong Kong with 144.18, and Zurich with 139.57. The overall index is comprised of 13 different basket groups. The assumption using the overall index is that everything is paid from the salary package. In addition, the cost of living calculations are weighted according to typical monthly international expatriate spending patterns. The Household Accommodation Basket for example, has a weighting of 30%, while the Groceries Basket has a weighting of 16.5%. That means that an international expatriate who, for example, earns 10,000 would typically spend 3,000 (30% of 10,000) on housing and 1,650 on groceries.

Of the top 50 most expensive destinations to live based on the overall cost of living, Asia-Pacific has 26 locations, Europe 14, the Americas 8, and Africa 2. The most expensive city in the Middle East is Abu Dhabi ranked 74, while in South Asia it is Colombo ranked 345.
 
The top 50 Most expensive locations to live - Overall Cost of Living & All Baskets:

1. Japan, Tokyo
2. China, Hong Kong
3. Switzerland, Zurich
4. Switzerland, Geneva
5. Japan, Yokohama
6. Switzerland, All Areas
7. Japan, Osaka
8. Australia, Sydney
9. Japan, Nagoya
10. Japan, Kobe
11. Venezuela, Caracas
12. Japan, Kyoto
13. Australia, Canberra
14. Japan, Kawasaki
15. Norway, Oslo
16. Brazil, Sao Paulo
17. Liechtenstein, Vaduz
18. Singapore, Singapore
19. Japan, Fukuoka
20. Australia, Perth
21. Australia, Melbourne
22. Norway, All Areas
23. Liechtenstein, All Areas
24. China, Shanghai
25. Brazil, Rio de Janeiro
26. United Kingdom, London
27. Angola, Luanda
28. Venezuela, All Areas
29. Japan, All Areas
30. USA, New York (Manhattan) NY
31. Denmark, Copenhagen
32. Japan, Sapporo
33. Denmark, All Areas
34. Angola, All Areas
35. Australia, Brisbane
36. USA, New York (Brooklyn) NY
37. Russia, Moscow
38. New Zealand, Wellington
39. Brazil, Brasilia
40. New Zealand, Auckland
41. Monaco, Monaco
42. Australia, Adelaide
43. USA, Honolulu HI
44. Korea Republic of, Seoul
45. France, Paris
46. Korea Republic of, Daegu
47. Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby
48. Korea Republic of, Incheon
49. Austria, Vienna
50. Taiwan, Taipei