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Moscow City

World’s Most Expensive City – Moscow, Again!

Are you contemplating a move to Moscow? Then you’d better make sure you have plenty of money in your pockets.

Moscow has just been named the world's most expensive city for the second year in a row by Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

The survey uses the cost of living in New York as a base, and concluded that Moscow is close to 35 percent more expensive, when calculating the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

Moscow’s top rank is in part affiliated with the appreciation of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, as well as the skyrocketing costs of accommodation there. A two-bedroom apartment in Moscow, for example, will set you back about $4,000 a month.

Just behind Moscow is London, which moved up three places from the previous year – again, associated with the strength of the pound against the dollar and high rental costs there. Mercer approximates that London is 26 percent more expensive than New York.

Most Expensive Cities

Numbers three and four on the list are Seoul and Tokyo, which are both estimated to be about 22 percent more expensive than New York. Hong Kong, at number five, is about 19 percent more pricey.

Asuncion in Paraguay is at the bottom of the Mercer list - ranked as the world's least expensive city for the fifth year in a row. The survey estimates that living there costs half as much as it does to live in New York.

In Latin America, the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are the most expensive cities; in the Middle East, it’s Tel Aviv; and in Africa, Ghana’s Accra is at the top of that continent’s list.

The Mercer survey ranked 143 cities worldwide, measuring the comparative cost of more than 200 components, including housing, transportation and food. The findings are largely intended to assist international businesses determine compensation for their expatriate employees.

Go to our Russia page, to find out more about living and working in Moscow.

Our Client businesses – part of the deVere & Partners Group – have operations in many countries worldwide. To find out more about the Expat experiences in these countries, go to the Countries Available page on this site.