London serves as the headquarters for the EIU, an organization that keeps tabs on daily costs in 172 locations worldwide. London, which was ranked 27th this year, substantially dropped off the list.
There were four European cities in the top 10 — Zurich (sixth place) was the highest, with Paris, Copenhagen, and fellow Swiss city Geneva rounding out the rest.
The most significant cause of price upticks in western Europe was increasing gas prices, the result of the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine and the region trying to find alternate sources of gas. The cost of one liter of gasoline has gone up a whopping 22% compared to this period last year.
Unsurprisingly, Russian cities Moscow and St. Petersburg both saw significant hikes in the cost of living expenses, while Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was not analyzed this year.
In addition to gas costs, one factor cited by the EIU was the uneven value of the Euro, which is used by some but not all of the European cities on this year’s list — the UK is on the pound, and Switzerland has the franc.
Three other cities in Europe — Stockholm, Lyon, and Luxembourg — also declined on the list.
Although it seems like New York City should have topped the list by now, this is the first time the biggest city in the US has landed in the first place — albeit in a tie with frequent winner Singapore.
Two other American metropolises also made the top 10 — Los Angeles in a tie for fourth place with Hong Kong and San Francisco in the eighth.
In total, 22 of the 172 cities the EIU tracks annually are in the US, including Portland, Boston, Chicago and Charlotte. Every single one of those 22 experienced a rise in inflation this year. Meanwhile, last year’s winner, Tel Aviv, fell to third place.
How the list is made:
In order to create the list, the EIU compares more than 400 individual prices across more than 200 products and services in 172 cities. They survey a range of businesses, both high and low-end, to get a sense of how much prices have fluctuated over the past year.
Another company, the global mobility firm ECA International, publishes its own rankings of the world’s priciest cities every year. The ECA list uses a slightly different methodology, looking at everyday expenses like rent and the cost of public transit, and does not include luxury products in its calculations.
Its list, published in June, awarded Hong Kong the title of the most expensive city for the third year straight and New York in second. However, the ECA’s list leans heavily toward big cities in Asia, as Seoul, Shanghai, and other East Asian urban centers all landed in the top 10.
The EIU list is benchmarked against prices in New York City, hence cities with currencies that are stronger against the US dollar are likely to appear higher in the rankings.
Let’s find out where are highest housing cost cities worldwide in 2022
1. New York and Singapore (tie)
3. Tel Aviv, Israel
4. Hong Kong and Los Angeles (tie)
6. Zurich, Switzerland
7. Geneva, Switzerland
8. San Francisco, California
9. Paris, France
10. Copenhagen, Denmark
