Not New York Or London, Hong Kong Becomes The Most Expensive City For Expatriates In 2024

Hong Kong. (Wikimedia Commons/momo)

JAKARTA - Moving abroad and starting a life in a new place is not an easy choice, with many things to consider, one of which is how many lives. However, which city has the most expensive living expenses for expatriates in 2024?

The Life Costs Survey, which was released last week, revealed a list of cities with the most expensive living expenses for expatriates this year, where Hong Kong is at the top. This makes the city the third time in a row to occupy the position since 2022.

Behind Hong Kong, there is Singapore in second place. Four Swiss cities in a row occupy the following list, namely Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Bern. This makes Switzerland dominate this year's list.

In seventh place, there is New York which is the city in the United States with the highest living expenses for expatriates, followed by London, England in eighth position, after last year's 17th position.

Complementing the list of the top 10s is nodes, the Bahamas is in ninth place and Los Angeles is in 10th position.

The expensive housing market and the increasing cost of transportation, goods, and services are several reasons why the cost of living in the top-ranked cities is so high.

"The cost of housing is a major factor in the Cost of Living City Ranking," the study reads, suggesting employees who spend most of their income on rentals or mortgages will have "less income for other expenses," cited from CNN, June 16.

"Between 2023 and 2024, there will be a lot of volatility in this cost worldwide, with housing rental prices that vary widely between cities," the announcement continued.

In addition, "exchange rate inflation and fluctuations" are known to have a direct impact on international workers' "paid and savings".

While the top rankings did not change much from the previous year's rankings, there were several quite large spikes in the next rankings.

Among them are two cities in Mexico, namely Mexico City, which rose 46 places to 33 and Monterrey which rose 40 places to 115th.

The study also notes that the cost of living in Uncle Sam's country is a "significant problem" for 2024, with seven US cities emerging in the top 20.

"As US-based companies continue to seek talent globally, inflationary pressures can get some foreign nationals thinking of accepting positions in several high-cost cities and metropolitan areas in the US," Vince Cordova, partner and mobility advisory leader at USmen.

"Therefore, we believe that entrepreneurs should be open about sharing information on cost of living and a clean salary with prospective employees so that they can better understand the financial impact of relocation to the US, and make decisions entirely based on information on whether to continue or not."

In contrast to the list above, Islamabad in Pakistan and Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria are the cities with the lowest living costs. However, this is said to be partly driven by "currency depreciation."

The report researches 226 cities based on the comparative costs of more than 200 items in each location, including transportation, food, clothing, household and entertainment items.

The prices of a dozen large eggs, one liter of olive oil, anderate coffee at popular cafes are among the 200 products considered when determining the ranking of living expenses in each city.

According to the study, the price of olive oil is the most prominent increase on average.

"The challenge of living expenses has had a significant impact on multinational organizations and their employees," Yvonne Traber, global mobility leader Badminton, said in a statement.

"It is important for organizations to continue to get information about the trend of living costs and inflation rates as well as seek input from employees about this issue to manage its impact effectively," he said.