Here Are the Most (and Least) Expensive Cities in the World
In terms of wages, the workers in Zurich, Geneva and Luxembourg earned the highest gross wages.
When rent is included, the US city jumps to first place as a two-bedroom unfurnished apartment averages $4,320 a month compared with $2,390 in Zurich. But when it comes to net salaries, the lowest urban earners live in Jakarta, Kyiv, and Nairobi.
The residents of Zurich need to work about 80 hours for a day of holiday, just one hour above the Bucharest level, but 27 hours more than Moscow employees.
According to the September 2015 UBS report titled Prices and Earnings, these are the top 10 cities in the world where you can expect to earn big bucks. That is, if you’re in the right field. Manama workers earned the highest average net wages in the Middle East.
UBS found that London was also far more expensive than comparable European capital cities Paris and Berlin when the price of an average basket of 39 foodstuffs was compared but Zurich, Seoul and New York were the costliest locations. Nairobi and Jakarta have the lowest purchasing power, with workers there able to afford just one-tenth as much as those in Luxembourg. In that ranking, Tel Aviv came in 33rd place, with wages 52.8% lower than New York.
“The Swiss National Bank’s decision to remove the cap has moved prices a lot”, said Daniel Kalt, at UBS economist, during an interview with Bloomberg. “Eurozone cities plunged”, the report said, adding that the crisis in Ukraine had pushed Kyiv to the bottom of the price and wage charts. Instability in South America greatly affected exchange rates, altering the positions of cities such as São Paulo and Buenos Aires.
While Swiss wages are the highest in the world, this matches the pricey cost of living in the country. Asia remains the continent with the largest variations in prices and wages among cities, while North America is still the most uniform. Prices and Earnings is also available as an iOS application, and in a digital UBS Newsstand version.