World's most and least expensive cities

http://www.imercer.com/globalcontent/surveys/SurveyInfo.asp?SurveyID=2454

but really, what's their method for selecting cities to rank?

so to factor those subdivisions out of LA would be even more disparate.

i think the real question is how the fuck are those cities in russia so expensive to live in. alot of the top ten cities are on islands and stuff, but moscow kinda blows my mind.

bear in mind that #36 is the second vietnamese city in the survey, with Hanoi just behind Berlin and LA at #29.

(x-post)

but when i see middle america bitching about gas prices ... they have no idea.

"Without [a picture of a car] you won't survive in Finland."

The Green party replied with an counter-ad of their own:

"Without [a picture of a gas mask] you won't survive in Finland."

Double it. Triple it. More, even. Time to pay up...

I hope no one thinks that I'm trying to threadjack.

Seems like the least expensive cities should be a place where you can get all of the amenities at a lower price. So Hati should be thrown out of this, even though it's cheap, since you can't find a decent Olive Garden there.

When tourists come to an intimidating place like Times Square, they're comforted when they see something they recognize from their hometowns. The thing I hear most often from out-of-town guests - people from Kansas City, Chicago, California - is: "We didn't know you were here. We've been in New York over a week, this is our last day, and we're so excited we've discovered the Olive Garden." They say their experiences in other New York restaurants have not been friendly. When I'm doing the hiring process, I look for a lot of employees from out of town, so when the guests come in, they can relate. I don't feel that Times Square has changed much since I was a kid. It's always been bright and exciting, and it still packs the same energy. Corporations have made America strong; I don't see anything wrong with corporations coming into Times Square. The Olive Garden is just part of the neighborhood.

To which I say, "GOOD". Stay out of the other restaurants then we don't want you. If you visit NYC (or anywhere) and you're excited to eat at an Olive Garden then you deserve everything you get.

A couple of years ago, I worked as a temp for a market research firm doing the research for a cost-of-living list in Tokyo (it may have been this list). It was a pain in the ass running from store to store. The stuff on the list were almost all luxury or up-scale goods. The list measures a professional EXPAT's cost of living. This is a very important point. The sample includes things like international school tuition, import food products (for example, a box of cornflakes), and Western-standard healthcare.

That is why Beijing is so high. Being an expat in Beijing is expensive, because Western-standard housing is scarce and international schools are expensive.

That's a cheap ticket in Tokyo for a foreign band. Just to take some random bands:

The Datsuns: $55
Chingy: $65
Offspring: $68
Aerosmith: $88

Like that.

Just like some people have no idea how those prices compare with what the average, everyday person earns in those places that have so-called "cheap" gas prices.

I know that over here, the average gas price is about $1.83 a gallon, which is a hell of a lot less expensive than it was a couple of weeks ago when we were all having heart attacks because the average was around $1.99 a gallon, but still, it's rather high when you factor in what wages are like over here. That $1.83 in S.A. is the same as approximately $5.00 in NYC or London, and that's just a conservative estimate. On average, people over here only make about $25,000 a year, which means that the thought of paying $200,000 for a house (just to give an example I've become familiar with) is absolutely insane for most of us. And I'm fairly certain most people in Oklahoma City are in a similar situation.

So please, before you run your mouth off, educate yourself.

are you seriously suggesting that the average wage in london is $70,000?? even with the current dollar-pound exchange rate that must be way over the top.

Are you in Tokyo? Where?

The average price for an average home (small 3 bedroom semi-detached) is now over £160,000, or in dollars about $270,000.

Fuel is at the moment is 83p per litre, which works out at £3.10 a gallon, or $5.25.

I think this proves that fuel is pretty cheap in the States.

um you can't buy a shack in NYC for $200K, so educate yourself right back.

Total Cost of Living Composite Index (U.S. Average = 100.0)
219.1

Housing–Total Purchase Price New
$944,600 (note: NY Times recently reported that the price for an average 1BR apartment in Manhattan broke the $1 MM barrier for the first time)

Medical–Average Doctor Visit
$110.00

Energy Costs/Home–Total Monthly Cost
$237.36
Major Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics / U.S. Department of Labor / Actuarial & Technical Solutions Inc. / CCH Incorporated

from the NYC Comptroller:

through 1998 (latest numbers available), Brooklyn residents had an average annual wage of $27,870.

No one in Texas -- much less San Antonio, the heart of the petrochemical industry -- should complain about gas prices.

Gasoline prices are also likely to stay firm after the unscheduled closure of an ExxonMobil gasoline unit, which comes as U.S. demand for motor fuel is rising to a seasonal peak.

According to a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, ExxonMobil's unit would be closed for at least two days, although traders in Gulf Coast gasoline said it would more likely be shut for 10 days.

Latest data from the Energy Information Administration pegged U.S. gasoline inventories at almost 206 million barrels in the week to June 11, 1.6 million barrels below levels a year ago and 8.3 million barrels under the five-year average.

I predicted the cheapest would possibly be Thimphu or Kathmandu, but they are not on the list.

New York, NY
annual average wage 2001 $59,097
annual average wage 2002 $57,708
percent change -2.4

San Antonio,TX
annual average wage 2001 $30,650
annual average wage 2002 $31,336
percent change +2.2

even in a recession, SA's been kicking our ass in wage growth.

from Bureau of Labor Stats

is this factoring in donald trump's salary?

Some places have some weird expensive stuff. F'instance, my rent is absurdly cheap and gas prices ain't TOO bad and I can still buy cheap booze. However, I continue to be shocked by the prices of groceries. I think I'm paying more now than I paid in London.

Purchasing a house in Denver is pretty damn expensive. $170,000 I think is the average cost. Not like I think that is THAT expensive, per se, it just seems expensive for a place I don't want to live in for the rest of muh life.

Oh and if y'all wanna live somewhere cheap move to Chugwater, Wyoming! I bet you can get a real sweet bungalow for $300.

2-bedroom houses (or apartments) in the whiter parts of Brooklyn are going for about $600,000 right now.

Anyway, erm. The standard of living in Albany is low coz industry has collapsed (read: they're transfering state workers out of there) or so sayeth my mum.

I'm just saying that $170,000 is expensive for Denver because Denver is kinda K-LAME!!

try living here!

more like 1BR apartments, if they're nice. My section of Brooklyn (kinda white but mostly black) has no single-families under a mil. Every below-$600K single family my ladyfriend looks at, in just about every neighborhood she's looked in (Greenpoint, Ft. Greene, Bed-Stuy, Williamsburg) has been a dump.

my parents are looking at places in the $550K price range in the nice neighborhoods of non-Manhattan boroughs and they've found a few things they liked. the problem is that sellers can be really underhanded re listing a low asking price and actually demanding much more.

oh yeah. The Brooklyn real estate boom directly correlates to this, I think. Last weekend ladyfriend and I were in a re office in my hood talking with a guy about this one Bed-Stuy property where the owner listed the prop at $550K but came back to the realtor saying he just got it "appraised" at $700-somethingK. Yeah, right.,

Your parents and the ladyfriend should compare notes, they're looking in the same price range and area.

OKC is a FAR cheaper place to live than NYC. 200K can get you a lot of house in OKC and a lot of closet in NYC.