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Mercer HR: Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2007 – city rankings

# Moscow remains the world’s most expensive city for expatriates; Asuncion in Paraguay is the cheapest
# European cities dominate the top of the list
# Many North American cities have dropped sharply in the rankings
# London climbs three places to rank second


(They don't say what the basket of item includes, but do say it is not appropriate for expats.)

CNN has weighed in, too: World's most expensive cities Moscow wins again, with London as runner up. New York drops five places to No. 15, while San Francisco plunges 20 places to No. 54, according to Mercer's 2007 survey.


1. Moscow
2. London
3. Seoul
4. Tokyo
5. Hong Kong
6. Copenhagen
7. Geneva
8. Osaka
9. Zurich
10. Oslo
11. Milan
12. St. Petersburg
13. Paris
14. Singapore
15. New York City
16. Dublin
17. Tel Aviv
18. Rome
19. Vienna
20. Beijing

The paragraph covering places I'm actually familiar with has led me to believe that this survey may well be a load of crap. Or minimally, they did the research some years ago, and have simply been adjusting based on national statistics since:

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Toronto, the most expensive city in Canada, has dropped 35 places to position 82 (score 78.8). Calgary and Vancouver have also tumbled down the rankings, sliding from 71st place to 92nd and 56th to 89th respectively. Ottawa remains the cheapest Canadian city in 109th position scoring 72.3. Canadian cities have traditionally rated favourably in the worldwide ranking. The new scores reflect a low rate of inflation and stable housing prices.

Suffice it to say that Calgary has neither low inflation nor stable housing prices. Can't really speak for the rest.

San Francisco is getting more affordable? Color me surprised!

It's not really true for the City itself...rents are going up and up, it is getting to be like dot.com again with the prices and competitiveness, and houses/condos are still selling quickly and over asking price (which is already very expensive).

I would love it if dropping 20 spots meant, in actuality, that it was getting more affordable. Not really the case, though.

Okay, my home town Tapei is only No. 48, which makes it much more affrodable as our Chinese, Korean, and Janpanese neighbors..

But how can San Franscico, Washington, DC, and Boston rank lower than Taipei (both US dollars and Taiwan dollars devalue against other currencies last year). That alone makes this survey not very credible...

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(They don't say what the basket of item includes, but do say it is not appropriate for expats.)

Yes, but they do say:

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“As companies continue to send employees on expatriate assignments, they must closely monitor changes in cost of living to ensure their expatriate compensation packages are fair and competitive.”

Which leads me to believe that this includes your typical assortment of butlers, maids, chauffered cars, supermarkets specializing in imported goods, expensed dinners at the city's top restaurants, and so on.

You know, stuff we all use.

Ok...I really question the credibility of this survey.

I noticed that Birmingham, AL was ranked higher than Los Angeles...so I decided to check out a little tool I call Craigslist. The fact that all of their listings are 850$ and below, many for 2+ rooms, casts doubt on the survey. Go to Craiglist LA, where there were one or two listings for under 850$, but the rest are easily over 1K$. Then I go to SF, where I know you can't get really anything for under 1K$ (well, you can, but they are in the scary parts of town, and even those are over 850$).

So...I don't believe it.

When did they measure everything? In my experience, housing prices in Toronto are not increasing as quickly as they were maybe a year or year and a half ago, but they're still going up.

Neil's point about Calgary is well-made. I don't have any direct experience in that market, but there is no possible way that inflation/housing prices are stable in that market. Every single financial article I read says otherwise, and a couple of friends I have who moved out there confirm this.

There's another way you can tell too annie.

Look at the federal govt. prevailing wage rates for govt. projects. Or state-wise CA has it's own prevailing wage table.
Guess where the highest labor rates are for the entire state of CA... good ole City of SF, and they have been for at least 20 years that I know of.

I'm leery of any "report" that does not have NYC and SF very closely ranked and very close to the top in the US.

Seoul is not particularly expensive, unless you refuse everything Korean (including food).

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Originally posted by anniebanannie:
San Francisco is getting more affordable? Color me surprised!

Ummm...it doesn't work that way.

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You know, stuff we all use.

I really would be nice if we could see the basket...unlike the democratic BnA World City Cost Index for Travelers

This same Mercer survey comes out every year and has people scratching their heads at how they arrive at their results. Moscow has been at the top for the last 2 years and there has been much local discussion......

What Mercer actually does is provide an analysis of costs for moving fairly high-end executives and expats to various locations, and the expense of supporting them in these locations in the upscale lifestyle said executives are accustomed to. It has no real connection to the budgets 'normal' local people would live on.

There are several prominent reasons Moscow has been the "most expensive" for expats the last couple of years. The cost of housing, decent western style housing, is ridiculously overpriced for the quality. Also the rise of the strong ruble against the weak and declining dollar has increased the cost of everything for foreign spenders. Proper western style health care is very expensive in Russia, moreso than even America. And the few English language schools for expat dependents are running $20,000 to $30,000 per year.

In other words, a western quality opulent lifestyle costs more in Moscow than in other countries.

I think my experience in Kyiv is relevant. While I wouldn't say this city is expensively necessarily, it does tend to rank high if you're looking at it from an expat perspective. If our embassy housing officers can find a nice 2 bedroom apartment in the city center for $3,000 a month, then we take it without blinking and sign a lease for as long as possible. If we can find $5,000 to $6,000 a month then we grin and bear it. It is the places that are $8,000 and more that are the real trouble. It seems like an exaggeration, but it isn't for "Western" standard apartments in Kyiv. Of course, this is hard to mesh with the fact that the average middle class person in Kyiv is lucky to make $1,000 a month.

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Originally posted by jv:

Which leads me to believe that this includes your typical assortment of butlers, maids, chauffered cars, supermarkets specializing in imported goods, expensed dinners at the city's top restaurants, and so on.

You know, stuff we all use.

I think you left out personal body guards and bribes to the local mafia and/or government where deemed "necessary," which might be why Moscow has been on top for the past couple of years.

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Ummm...it doesn't work that way.

Ummm...duh.

As I stated above, I don't really trust the validity of this survey. As braslvr stated, any survey that doesn't have NYC & SF close is missing something. And a survey that ranks Birmingham over LA, again, sketchy.

I only know from experience for the North American ones. Perhaps it is correct on the European side, but even for moving executives from one place to another, I doubt it.

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And a survey that ranks Birmingham over LA, again, sketchy.

Annie - I think that's Birmingham, UK, not Alabama.

Skobb and Sophie9 are spot on, from what I've also read about this survey. It has no relation to the lives of mere mortals. Otherwise we'd have have a huge migration of folks from Douala, Cameroon (#24) and Almaty Kazakhstan (#30) to Los Angeles (#42) and Luxembourg (#43 and according to some studies, the home of the highest per capita income in the world) where they can OBVIOUSLY live for a lot cheaper!

Ahhh...gotcha. I thought that was a weird place to put in there?!

Is Papeete, Tahiti on this list?

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Originally posted by anniebanannie:

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Ummm...it doesn't work that way.

Ummm...duh.

Anniebanannie, my dear boot, you know I post these Cost of Living links just to wind you up, yes?