Hong Kong is the most expensive city in the world for international employees, with a cost index of 113.63 against a New York City baseline of 100. Singapore (109.83) and Zurich (109.75) follow, and those three cities have held the top three places for a second straight year. This guide lays out the most expensive cities in the world as a top 10, with each city’s rank, its movement since the previous survey and its cost index wherever one is published.
The table uses the Mercer Cost of Living City Ranking from the 2024 survey, which collected prices in March 2024 and ranks 226 cities. It is the latest edition published, so every rank below describes that survey and not a 2026 price check. Half of the top 10 sit in Western Europe, four of them in Switzerland, and the only newcomer to the group is London.
The 10 Most Expensive Cities in the World by Cost of Living Rank, All 10
| # | City | Country | Change vs 2023 | Cost index (New York = 100) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong (SAR) | No change | 113.63 |
| 2 | Singapore | Singapore | No change | 109.83 |
| 3 | Zurich | Switzerland | No change | 109.75 |
| 4 | Geneva | Switzerland | No change | Not published |
| 5 | Basel | Switzerland | No change | Not published |
| 6 | Bern | Switzerland | Up 1 place | Not published |
| 7 | New York City | United States | Down 1 place | 100.00 |
| 8 | London | United Kingdom | Up 9 places | 90.62 |
| 9 | Nassau | Bahamas | Up 1 place | Not published |
| 10 | Los Angeles | United States | Up 1 place | 88.86 |
The index is published for only some cities. Geneva, Basel, Bern and Nassau have a rank but no public index value, so the last column leaves them blank rather than estimating a number.
Most Expensive Cities in the World, Ranked
1. Hong Kong: Housing, Transport and Goods All Cost More
Rank: 1 of 226 · Change vs 2023: none · Cost index: 113.63 · Housing cost change: 8%
Hong Kong stays in first place, unchanged from the previous survey, and sits 13.63 index points above New York City. No other city in the table scores higher than 110 on the index.
The ranking names expensive housing, high transport costs and higher prices for goods and services as factors in the top three. Hong Kong’s line in the survey’s housing chart shows a rise of 8%.
2. Singapore: Second Place by a Margin of 3.80 Points
Rank: 2 of 226 · Change vs 2023: none · Cost index: 109.83 · Housing cost change: 8%
Singapore holds second place, level with the previous survey, with an index of 109.83. It trails Hong Kong by 3.80 points and leads Zurich by just 0.08.
Its housing line shows the same 8% rise as Hong Kong. Together the two cities head the table, and neither moved from the previous survey.
3. Zurich: Only 0.08 Points Behind Singapore
Rank: 3 of 226 · Change vs 2023: none · Cost index: 109.75 · Housing cost change: 6%
Zurich is the most expensive city in Switzerland and the third most expensive in the world, unchanged from the previous survey. Its index of 109.75 puts it within a rounding error of Singapore.
Zurich is the first of four Swiss cities in the top 10, alongside Geneva, Basel and Bern. Its housing line shows a rise of 6%, smaller than the increases in Hong Kong and Singapore.
4. Geneva: Fourth of 226 and Steady
Rank: 4 of 226 · Change vs 2023: none · Housing cost change: 3%
Geneva ranks fourth, the same position as in the previous survey. It is one of four Swiss cities in the top 10.
No public index value is available for Geneva, so its position is best read against its neighbours: it sits between Zurich at 109.75 and Basel in fifth. Its housing line shows a rise of 3%, the smallest among the Swiss cities in the top 10 with a published figure.
5. Basel: Fifth Place, Level With Last Time
Rank: 5 of 226 · Change vs 2023: none · Housing cost change: 4%
Basel takes fifth place, unchanged. It is the third of the four Swiss cities in the group, and the ranking has no public index value for it.
Basel’s housing line shows a rise of 4%, one point more than Geneva’s and level with Bern’s. Hong Kong, Singapore, Zurich and Geneva rank above it.
6. Bern: Up One Place to Complete the Swiss Four
Rank: 6 of 226 · Change vs 2023: up 1 place · Housing cost change: 4%
Bern is the only Swiss city in the top 10 that moved, rising one place to sixth. That lifts it above New York City, which slipped from sixth to seventh.
The Swiss capital completes the four-city Swiss group of Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Bern. Its housing line shows a rise of 4%, the same as Basel and London.
7. New York City: The Baseline Every Other City Is Measured Against
Rank: 7 of 226 · Change vs 2023: down 1 place · Cost index: 100.00 · Housing cost change: 7%
New York City remains the most expensive city in North America and ranks seventh worldwide, down one place. It is the base city for the ranking, so its index is fixed at 100.00 and every other score is a comparison with it.
Currency movements are measured against the US dollar, so exchange rates feed straight into every other city’s score. Its housing line shows a rise of 7%, close to the 8% recorded in Hong Kong and Singapore.
8. London: Up Nine Places Into the Top 10
Rank: 8 of 226 · Change vs 2023: up 9 places · Cost index: 90.62 · Housing cost change: 4%
London made the largest jump of any city in the top 10, climbing nine places to eighth. It is the group’s only new entrant and the highest-placed city in the United Kingdom.
Its index of 90.62 is 9.38 points below New York City and about 23 below Hong Kong. Its housing line shows a rise of 4%, in line with Basel and Bern.
9. Nassau: The Bahamas Capital Takes the Second North American Slot
Rank: 9 of 226 · Change vs 2023: up 1 place · Housing cost change: 0%
Nassau rose one place to ninth and is the second most expensive city in North America after New York City. Its tenth-place neighbour is Los Angeles, which also gained one place.
Its housing line shows no change at all, 0%, the lowest housing figure in the table. No public index value is available, so its position rests on rank alone.
10. Los Angeles: A One-Place Rise Into Tenth
Rank: 10 of 226 · Change vs 2023: up 1 place · Cost index: 88.86
Los Angeles climbed one place to tenth and is the third most expensive city in North America. Its index of 88.86 is 11.14 points below the New York City baseline.
Copenhagen follows in 11th place with an index of 88.40, only 0.46 points behind. That small gap shows how little separates the bottom of the top 10 from the places just outside it.
Four Swiss Cities in the Top 10 and What Sets Them Apart
Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Bern occupy ranks three to six, which makes Switzerland the only country with more than two entries in the top 10. Three of the four held their positions exactly, and Bern gained one place.
Where an index exists, the Swiss figure is very high: Zurich scores 109.75, within 0.08 of Singapore. Housing lines run from 3% in Geneva to 6% in Zurich, so the group does not move in lockstep.
Where the United States and the United Kingdom Land
Three of the ten cities are in North America, in the order New York City, Nassau and Los Angeles. The ranking lists the next two North American cities as Honolulu in 12th and San Francisco in 13th.
The same ranking has Mexico City climbing 46 places to 33rd. London is the only UK city in the top 10, at 8th, after a nine-place rise, and its index of 90.62 is about nine points under New York City. For a broader view of American urban scale, see the guide to the largest cities in the US.
Dubai, Tel Aviv and the Rest of the Top 15
Copenhagen (11th, down two places) and Honolulu (12th, up three) sit just outside the top 10, followed by San Francisco (13th, up one). Bangui in the Central African Republic is 14th, up 12 places, and is the highest-placed African city; its index of 86.47 is paired with a low quality-of-living classification.
Dubai is 15th, up three places, and is the most expensive city in the Middle East for international employees, with an index of 85.77. Its housing line shows a rise of 21%, the largest housing figure quoted in this guide. Tel Aviv is next in the region at 16th, down eight places.
A Different Ranking Ties Singapore and Zurich for First
A separate survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), covering 173 cities, put Singapore and Zurich level in first place in its 30 November 2023 release. It reported that prices for more than 200 goods and services rose 7.4% year on year in local currency, after 8.1% the year before.
Its top ten names New York, Hong Kong, Geneva, Paris, Copenhagen, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tel Aviv besides the two leaders, and six of those ten cities also appear in the table above. Because the city sets and methods differ, the two sets of ranks should not be merged into one table.
What Moves a City Up or Down: Currencies, Housing and Everyday Prices
The ranking compares more than 200 items in each place, covering housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. Because New York City is the base and currency movements are measured against the US dollar, exchange rates can move a city as sharply as local prices do.
Lagos shows the effect in the other direction: it fell 178 places to 225th on currency depreciation, and only Abuja is cheaper. Santiago dropped 73 places to 160th, Buenos Aires fell 32 to 77th, and Mexico City gained 46 places to 33rd.
Where the Rest of the World Sits Against the Top 10
In Asia, Shanghai is 23rd, Beijing 25th and Seoul 32nd. In Europe, Vienna is 24th, Paris 29th and Amsterdam 30th. In the Pacific, Sydney is 58th, Noumea 60th, Melbourne 73rd, Brisbane 89th, Auckland 111th and Wellington 145th.
Abu Dhabi is 43rd, Riyadh 90th and Jeddah 97th in the Middle East, while Montevideo is 42nd and Sao Paulo 124th in South America. The five cheapest of the 226 are Abuja, Lagos, Islamabad (224th), Bishkek (223rd) and Karachi (222nd).
What a 226-City Cost Comparison Actually Measures
The Mercer ranking is built for companies that send staff abroad, so it prices a basket of goods and services as an international assignee would buy it. Survey data were collected in March 2024 and cover more than 400 cities, with 226 ranked, using the exchange rates of that month.
That design has limits. The ranks describe expatriate costs, not what local residents pay, and they say nothing about wages. Index values are published for only a subset of cities, and the ranks are all distinct, with no ties in the 226 places.
How to Compare These Figures Before Using Them
Read the rank for the order and the index for the size of the gap. Hong Kong’s 113.63 and New York City’s 100.00 differ by 13.63 points, while Singapore and Zurich differ by only 0.08, so positions two and three are effectively a tie.
- Use the Change vs 2023 column to spot momentum: London rose nine places while New York City slipped one.
- Treat a missing index as missing: Geneva, Basel, Bern and Nassau have a rank only.
- Compare housing lines city by city: Dubai’s 21% rise dwarfs the 0% shown for Nassau.
- Pair these ranks with a salary figure, since a high cost index says nothing about what a job in that city pays.
For context on national wealth rather than city prices, the guide to the richest country in the world and the biggest cities in the world by population give two other ways to place these cities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most expensive city in the world?
Hong Kong, first of 226 cities with an index of 113.63 against New York City at 100. Singapore (109.83) and Zurich (109.75) follow.
Which US city is the most expensive?
New York City, 7th in the world and the most expensive city in North America. Los Angeles is 10th, Honolulu 12th and San Francisco 13th.
How many Swiss cities are in the top 10?
Four: Zurich (3rd), Geneva (4th), Basel (5th) and Bern (6th). Bern was the only one to change position, up one place.
Which city is the cheapest in the ranking?
Abuja in Nigeria, 226th of 226. Lagos is 225th after falling 178 places on currency depreciation.
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