• Launched in January 2010
• Collaborative database of prices (crowdsourced, like Wikipedia). The website users enter the prices for their own cities. Therefore, not all of the 900+ cities contained in the database have data yet.
• Uses Prague as anchor value (Prague = 100)
• 136,000 prices entered in 545 different cities by 31,500 users coming from 110 different countries.
• Compiles prices for 36 various products divided into 6 categories (Food, Housing, Clothes, Transportation, Personal Care, and Entertainment).
• The index shows only the 134 cities that have enough data to be reliable. All cities are accesible in the application, though.
• More information about expatistan:
  • What is it?
  • How does it work?
  • Frequently Asked Questions

• As of June 2011, Expatistan.com's cost of living index ranks Tokyo, Japan as the number one most expensive city in the world.
• Following behind Tokyo are Zurich, Oslo, Sydney and Perth. Australia also claims a third city in the top ten, with Melbourne at #6, followed by London, Singapore, New York City and Washington D.C. But Brisbane in Australia, though ranked 11th most expensive city, actually shares the same price index, 189, as Washington D.C.
• There's 5 Australian cities in the top ten, 4 European ones and no American or African cities.
• The world's cheapest city for expats, out of the 134 cities currently listed in the index is Kolkata, India, with a price index of 44, less than 1/5 of the price of the most expensive one.
• Asia contains the biggest disparity, with some of the world's most expensive cities (like Tokyo and Singapore) and also the cheapest ones (like Kolkata and Bangalore in India).

1. Tokyo (Japan)
2. Oslo (Norway)
3. Geneva (Switzerland)
4. Zurich (Switzerland)
5. Sydney (Australia)

Global Index

Breakdown by Region

Africa

Asia

West and Southern Europe

East and Central Europe

Latin America

Middle East

US and Canada

Oceania