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For anyone turned on by lists, then have we got a list for you! The Economist's Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has published the EIU Worldwide Cost of Living for 2007. What's the WCOL, you say?
The Worldwide Cost of Living survey enables human resources line managers and expatriate executives to compare the cost of living in over 130 cities in nearly 90 countries and calculate fair compensation policies for relocating employees.And for some reason, everything is indexed against NYC! But we don't even crack the top ten.The survey gathers detailed information on the cost of more than 160 items--from food, toiletries and clothing to domestic help, transport and utility bills--in every city. More than 50,000 individual prices are collected in each survey round and surveys are updated each June and December. A cost-of-living index is calculated from the price data to express the difference in the cost of living between any two cities.
One reason why NYC - and other North American cities - are relatively cheaper, especially compared to Europe is the weak dollar. Since the WCOL site is for subscribers only, a generous commenter at Shanghaiist (which also has some good China-specific analysis) offered up the whole list, which shows funny things, like an ex-pat living in Detroit would be spending more than one living in Boston.
And Shanghaiist also showed how cities where an -ist or -est sites exist stack up against each other.
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EIU = Economist Intelligence Unit, not Economics
New York doesn't crack the top 10 because the survey doesn't take housing cost into account.
Yeah that survey is silly, Boston and Pittsburgh score the same!! You can buy a dozen houses in Pittsburgh for the cost of a 2br condo in Boston.
Tehran is cheap! Yay!
not only does it not factor in housing costs...it neglects to mention the taxes of those cities/countries. Finland, France and Denmark have some of the highest income taxes in the world...thus making the leftover money the people have "more valuable".
"Finland, France and Denmark have some of the highest income taxes in the world",
Yes, but in exchange they get free medical and dental care for life!. The also get a government pension at retirement that is actually ENOUGH to live on.
Sooo, how does the great Satan ..er..I mean the great US stack-up on that one?.
Plus they're not policing the whole world with a large military-industrial complex so most of their budget gets funneled to their citizens.
NYC doesn't crack the top ten because it is the index city. If NYC is 100, the cities scoring higher than that will rank higher. Hence Helsinki, at 116 and rounding out the top ten, is more expensive than NYC.
I believe housing cost is included in this survey, but only rentals. New York rents are NOT expensive compared to similar sized apartments and amenities. Do you know the rent of of apartments in European cities like Paris and London? When I was living in Hong Kong, my 2 bedroom, 1600 square feet apartment in a nice area cost US$13,000 a month. I bet I can find a similar apartment for less in New York city.