Here Are 89 Cities More Expensive Than Toronto

London, Tokyo, Prague, San Juan, Philadelphia — many cities have higher costs of living than Toronto, according to a new survey.

By Josh Sherman | 3 minute read

A large consultancy has compared hundreds of cities around the world and rated them in terms of the local cost of living.

Toronto is an expensive place to call home, but there are scores of even pricier cities around the world, at least according to a recent international survey.

Mercer, a corporate and government consultancy, has ranked 227 global cities based on overall cost of living, and Toronto was the most expensive Canadian city on the list, occupying the 90th place. Last year, Toronto ranked 89th. The analysis draws from cost comparisons of more than 200 budget items, from essential expenses such as housing, food, and transportation to discretionary purchases including entertainment. Among Canadian cities, Vancouver was second (ranked 116), followed by Montreal (135), Ottawa (137), and Calgary (145).

“Through the Cost of Living Survey, we see that despite domestic inflationary pressures that are affecting overall quality of living, Canada continues to be an attractive destination for remote workers,” says Nicole Stewart, principal, career at Mercer Canada, in a statement. The cities with the 10 highest costs of living are spread across seven nations, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China:

“New York City is used as the base city for all city ranking comparisons and currency movements are measured against the US dollar,” reads an explanation of the data from the report. Housing costs are weighted to account for 20% of a city’s ranking and only consider rents, not home prices, according to a response from Mercer Canada to follow-up questions from Wahi. The reasoning is that Mercer’s research is intended to inform clients on how much they should expect to compensate employees on international assignments.

While home prices aren’t directly included in the analysis, it’s hard to imagine Toronto would rank any lower on the international list if they were. It would take the typical Toronto household 297.2 months to save for a downpayment on a median-priced local home, a recent report from National Bank found (that’s about 25 years). A separate study from RBC suggests that average Toronto home buyers need to shell out 85.9% of their incomes to cover the caring costs of ownership. And such high housing costs are draining billions from the local economy.

However, as we’ve seen with the cost of buying condos in downtowns around the world, when zooming out to a global view (and even taking home prices into account), it still looks like a number of other cities are — believe it or not — even more unaffordable than Toronto. 

Check out the top 100 cities on the Mercer list below, or visit the Mercer website for the full rankings: 

1. Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR)
2. Singapore, Singapore
3. Zurich, Switzerland
4. Geneva, Switzerland
5. Basel, Switzerland
6. New York City, United States
7. Bern, Switzerland
8. Tel Aviv, Israel
9. Copenhagen, Denmark
10. Nassau, Bahamas
11. Los Angeles, United States
12. Shanghai, China
13. Beijing, China
14. San Francisco, United States
15. Honolulu, United States
16. Seoul, South Korea
17. London, United Kingdom
18. Dubai, United Arab Emirates
19. Tokyo, Japan
20. Shenzhen, China
21. Boston, United States
22. Miami, United States
23. Washington, United States
24. Chicago, United States
25. Vienna, Austria
26. Bangui, Central African Republic
27. Djibouti, Djibouti
28. Amsterdam, Netherlands
29. Atlanta, United States
30. Luanda, Angola
31. Seattle, United States
32. Kinshasa, The Democratic Republic of the Congo
33. Prague, Czech Republic
34. Helsinki, Finland
35. Paris, France
36. Guangzhou, China
37. Berlin, Germany
38. Munich, Germany
39. Conakry, Guinea Republic
40. N’Djamena, Chad
41. Brussels, Belgium
42. Victoria, Seychelles
43. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
44. San Juan, Puerto Rico
45. Buenos Aires, Argentina
46. The Hague, Netherlands
47. Lagos, Nigeria
48. Frankfurt, Germany
49. Milan, Italy
50. Philadelphia, United States
51. Dublin, Ireland
52. Libreville, Gabon
53. Dallas, United States
54. Montevideo, Uruguay
55. Qingdao, China
56. Sydney, Australia
57. Taipei, Taiwan
58. Luxembourg, Luxembourg
59. Rome, Italy
60. Oslo, Norway
61. Houston, United States
62. Hamburg, Germany
63. San Jose, Costa Rica
64. Riga, Latvia
65. Pittsburgh, United States
66. Dakar, Senegal
67. Minneapolis, United States
68. Busan, South Korea
69. Stuttgart, Germany
70. Noumea, New Caledonia
71. Melbourne, Australia
72. Portland, United States
73. Nanjing, China
74. Dusseldorf, Germany
75. Barcelona, Spain
76. Shenyang, China
77. Abidjan, Côte D’Ivoire
78. St. Louis, United States
79. Mexico City, Mexico
80. Detroit, United States
81. Douala, Cameroon
82. Brisbane, Australia
83. Madrid, Spain
84. Brazzaville, The Republic Of Congo
85. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
86. Edinburgh, United Kingdom
87. Santiago, Chile
88. Cleveland, United States
89. Chengdu, China
90. Toronto, Canada
91.  Leipzig, Germany
92.  Lyon, France
93. Osaka, Japan
94. Canberra, Australia
95. Stockholm, Sweden
96.  Nuremberg, Germany
97. Athens, Greece
98. Manama, Bahrain
99. Chongqing, China
100. Tallinn, Estonia