Top 10 world’s most expensive cities for expats in 2023 features 4 Asian names. Check list

The New York city replaced Hong Kong as the world’s most expensive city to live in as an expat. One of the major global financial hubs, the United States city is cutting deep through pockets due to soaring inflation and rising accommodation costs, which were cited as the reason to place it on top of the ECA International’s Cost of Living Rankings for 2023.

New York switched places with Hong Kong in this year’s ranking, which stood at the second spot. They were followed by Geneva in Switzerland, London, and Singapore.

The list was dominated by cities in the US and China while Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE also made a cut, among the total of 20 cities ranked this year.

In Asia, other than Chinese cities and Singapore, Japan’s Tokyo, and Seoul, the capital city of South Korea also featured in the top 10 list.

Here is the list of 20 most expensive cities for expats in 2023:

Explaining Singapore’s sharp jump from 13th spot from last year, the survey body’s Regional Director for Asia, Lee Quane told Bloomberg, “The Southeast Asian financial hub’s rise was due largely to major increases in accommodation costs.”

The survey also noted that Turkish city of Istanbul saw the biggest jump this time, climbing 95 spots to 108th place, fuelled by president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s economic policies.

The list was made after an analysis of various factors such as the cost of consumer goods and services, factoring in rental costs in areas typically inhabited by expats. ECA International ranke 207 cities in 120 countries and territories around the world.