Numbeo – Most Expensive Global Cities For Expats

Switzerland has become entrenched as the most expensive country for expats, who voted five cities in the tiny nation into the top places in a global poll.

Switzerland is regularly voted as the most expensive place for expats to live in global surveys.

Although the country grabbed the prime positions in the table, the USA had the most listings in the survey of more than 440 cities worldwide.

The US ended top with 58 cities in the survey voted for by expats.

New York was the most expensive city in North America, followed by San Francisco. The US dominance of the table is explained by the strong dollar outperforming all other currencies.

In Europe, Zurich took top place – and top ranking in the table from expat data monitor Numbeo’s Cost of Living Index 2020. Norway rivalled Switzerland with four top 10 places.

The remaining top 10 slot was grabbed by the Iceland capital Reykjavik.

Montevideo, Uruguay, won the top ranking in South America.

Indian cities garnered 17 of the last 20 places, only rivalled by Pakistan taking the other three.

London ranked 28 and Paris 24.

Top 20 most expensive expat cities

Rank	City	Country
1	Zurich	Switzerland
2	Basel	Switzerland
3	Lausanne	Switzerland
4	Geneva	Switzerland
5	Bern	Switzerland
6	Stavanger	Norway
7	Oslo	Norway
8	Trondheim	Norway
9	Reykjavik	Iceland
10	Bergen	Norway
11	New York	USA
12	San Francisco	USA
13	Anchorage	USA
14	Honolulu	USA
15	Brooklyn	USA
16	Aalborg	Denmark
17	Washington DC	USA
18	Tokyo	Japan
19	Oakland	USA
20	Tel Aviv	Israel

Countries with the most cities voted by expats

Rank	Country	No of cities
1	USA	58
2	India	32
3	UK	24
4	Russia	21
5	Germany	18
6	Canada	17
7	Poland	11
8	Spain	10
9	Romania	10
10	Australia	10
11	Ukraine	9
12	Italy	9
13	Netherlands	8
14	Mexico	8
15	France	6
16	Brazil	6
17	China	6
18	Switzerland	5
19	Turkey	5
20	Ireland	4