In January, J. Camm brought you a guide on how much you need to earn to live comfortably in 78 U.S. cities. Now, we delve into the 20 most expensive cities in the world and how much it will cost you to live in these mega metropolises.
Let’s say you are exploring a potential career opportunity, and they are offering you righteous bucks, but it is in a far-away city. Before you get too intoxicated by the high dollar figures, you should get an idea of how much of your precious salary is going to be gobbled up by the exorbitant costs of living in said city.
Savills unveiled their latest Live/Work Index, which measures the combined cost of residential and office rental per person per year across leading world-class cities. They found that the average total cost of accommodation per worker in these 20 international cities is $56,855.
The most expensive city to live and work in is London, a title that the capital of England has held since 2014. The average cost to live and work in London will cost you $112,800 per year. Right on London’s heels was New York City, and it costs $111,300 to live comfortably in the city that never sleeps. Rounding out the top three was Hong Kong with an annual cost of $103,200.
Other U.S. cities include San Francisco as the #6 most expensive city. You need $66,300 to live there and you definitely should not have an entry-level job at Yelp and assume you won’t go into debt. Miami is #11 on the list where it will set you back $49,000 to soak up the SoBe sun. Los Angeles is #12 at $48,600 and Chicago is #14 at $44,700.
So now you know, make sure you can maximize your salary and not blowing it on a 500-square-foot studio for $2,000 a month in some steeply priced megalopolis.