Most expats are looking to live large for a little, but it’s hard to track down the best places to go to enjoy life to its full.
Cost of living comparisons are difficult to make and most bog corporations taking a stab at expat spending power are putting together data for employers rather than individuals.
But there is one place to look that lists the cost of living in more than 500 cities around the world with data inputted by expats.
The data is collected and analysed by Numbeo to produce a regularly updated table of how much expats are spending.
The cheapest 14 cities are all in India – indeed Indian cities take 28 of the bottom 50 places on the cost of living index.
Cheapest city for expats
From out of nowhere, Hamilton, Bermuda, is the most expensive expat city in the world, with a cost of living that is nearly seven times that of the cheapest city, Thiruvananthapuram, India.
But where India is the place to go for cost-conscious expats, the places to avoid are Switzerland and Norway.
Switzerland has six cities in the top 10 most expensive, while Norway has two – with others creeping into 11thand 13th.
The only other nation in the top 10 is Iceland.
The base for the index is New York, which ranks 12thwith a score of 100.
The most expensive city in Asia is Tokyo, Japan, with a ranking 25 and index score of 84.78. In Africa, Accra, Ghana, has the most expensive cost of living with an index of 57.23 in 301stplace.
Most expensive cities for expats
Rank | City | Country | Cost of living index |
1 | Hamilton | Bermuda | 137.56 |
2 | Zurich | Switzerland | 128.65 |
3 | Basel | Switzerland | 126.89 |
4 | Lausanne | Switzerland | 119.62 |
5 | Bern | Switzerland | 118.42 |
6 | Geneva | Switzerland | 118.33 |
7 | Reykjavik | Iceland | 112.57 |
8 | Lugano | Switzerland | 111.88 |
9 | Stavanger | Norway | 111.00 |
10 | Oslo | Norway | 107.14 |
Cheapest cities for expats
Rank | City | Country | Cost of living index |
528 | Mysore | India | 22.41 |
529 | Mangalore | India | 22.40 |
530 | Bhubaneswar | India | 22.40 |
531 | Coimbatore | India | 22.38 |
532 | Bhopal | India | 22.37 |
533 | Vadodara | India | 22.28 |
534 | Kochi | India | 21.73 |
535 | Visakhapatnam | India | 21.52 |
536 | Navi Mumbai | India | 19.30 |
537 | Thiruvananthapuram | India | 19.26 |
Source: Numbeo