We all knew that it was expensive to live in or visit San Francisco, but did you know it was the fourth most expensive city in the whole world, according to one study? We don’t know whether to be proud or horrified—maybe a mixture. Call us horriproud.
The data company Numbeo released its Cost of Living Index by City last month, which looks at all kinds of expenditures: the cost of groceries and utilities, how much you’ll drop at a restaurant and your local purchasing power—what you pay here versus what you’d pay for the same thing elsewhere. The separate rent index considers apartment rentals. This mid-year tabulation started out by using New York City as the baseline and comparing every other city to it. The data is pretty micro, totaling up how much a pair of Levi’s 501s, a head of lettuce, a cappuccino and a 20-pack of Marlboros cost. (We know we’re choosing our next vacation based on how much we’ll shell out for romaine.)
The United States turns out to be a pretty expensive nation: We captured seven out of the top 10 spots, but we didn’t gain the dubious pleasure of #1. That honor belongs to Geneva, Switzerland, where you’ll pay top dollar to be neutral (and #2 is Zurich, just proving that neutrality—or maybe the beautiful Alpine views—make you dig into your wallet). And of course you’re wondering where New York lands, since it’s the study’s baseline: It’s at #3, just before San Francisco.
Here’s the full top 10 list of the most expensive cities in the world:
1. Geneva, Switzerland
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. New York, New York
4. San Francisco, California
5. Boston, Massachusetts
6. Reykjavik, Iceland
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Seattle, Washington
9. Los Angeles, California
10. Chicago, Illinois