Data & Research July 8, 2009

U.S. Looks More Pricey

U.S. cities climb on the list of most expensive places to live, according to Mercer’s annual Cost of Living survey.
Reported by

Due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, all cities in the U.S. have experienced a rise in this year’s ranking, Mercer found. New York remains the highest-ranking city in the country, jumping from 22nd to eighth place. Los Angeles is up 32 places to 23rd and Washington, D.C., is up 41 places to 66th.

Other U.S. cities with significant changes in ranking this year include:

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  • White Plains, New York (moving from 89th to 31st place)
  • San Francisco (78th to 34th)
  • Honolulu (77th to 41st)
  • Miami (75th to 45th)
  • Chicago (84th to 50th)
  • Boston (99th to 60th)
  • Houston (98th to 63rd)
  • Atlanta (109th to 75th).


Asian and European cities still dominate the top 10:

  1. Tokyo, Japan
  2. Osaka, Japan
  3. Moscow, Russia
  4. Geneva, Switerzerland
  5. Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  6. Zurich, Switerzerland
  7. Copenhagen, Denmark
  8. New York City, United States
  9. Beijing, Chine
  10. Singapore, Singapore


In Mercer’s survey, New York is used as the base city for the index and scores 100 points. All cities are compared against New York and currency movements are measured against the U.S. dollar. The survey covers 143 cities across six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment. More information is available here.

 

 

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