Cost of Living Index

Europe houses several of the world's most expensive cities.  Results from WageIndicator’s 2024 Cost of Living survey validate this common assumption, as four of the ten most expensive cities globally happen to be in Europe. These include - London, Geneva, Zurich and Basel, with London ranking as the most expensive city in Europe.

Assuming New York city has the Index Value = 100, different cities across the world have been assigned an Index Value as per the estimates from the WageIndicator’s cost of living survey.  The higher the index value, the more expensive the city is. An index value higher than 100, suggests that the city is more expensive than New York and vice versa.

The following visual indicates the ranking for different cities in Europe as per the WageIndicator Cost of Living survey (2024). Alongside WageIndicator’s ranking, we also present the corresponding rankings from  Numbeo Cost of Living Plus Rent Index by City (2024) and the Mercer Cost of Living City Ranking (2024) for comparison. For the purpose of this specific visualization, the rankings have been adjusted to the European context.