Moscow Ranked World’s Most Expensive City

city of moscow

A survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranked 143 cities around the world, using over 200 criteria to compare the costs of housing, transportation and food, just to name a few.

Moscow was ranked the world’s most expensive city for the second year in a row, due mainly to the appreciating Russian currency (the ruble) and rising housing costs.

A luxury two-bedroom apartment is said to cost roughly $4,000 US dollars a month; with CDs a very expensive $24.83; an edition of an international daily newspaper at $6.30; and a fast-food meal tallying $4.80.

According to the survey, the cost of living in the Russian capital is nearly 35 percent higher than NYC.

London rose to the second spot, estimated to be 26 percent more expensive than New York due to the strength of the British pound and the high cost of renting.

The third and fourth spot went to Asian capital cities, Seoul, Korea and Tokyo, Japan respectively.

New York and Los Angeles were the only two North American cities to rank among the top 50, with both dropping significantly due to a depreciating U.S. dollar.

NYC dropped five places to number 15, while Los Angeles fell to number 42 from the 29 spot a year ago.

Europeans cities were clearly the strongest thanks mainly to the boost in the euro, with 30 European cities in the top spots on the 2007 list, including Copenhagen, Geneva, Zurich and Oslo among the top 10.