The 20 Most Expensive Cities in the World 2014

The website Expatistan.com collects information from almost 200,000 users around the world to calculate average prices in 1,600 cities for everyday items such as food, rent and petrol.

1 | London, UK

It’s the monthly transport costs of £131 and high rent that are causing city dwellers here to struggle, though petrol is also £1.39 a liter – more than double the price in LA.

2 | Oslo, Norway

Where a bottle of decent red table wine is on average an eye-watering £17.

3 | Swiss, Geneva

Half a kg of chicken breast here costs £9 on average.

4 | Zurich

Hot on New York’s heels is Zurich, where 12 eggs costs an astonishing £4.26 and cold medicine for six days is £12. Better take those vitamins.

5 | New York, USA

Two tickets to the theater here (best available seats) will leave you £197 out of pocket.

6 | Lausanne, Switzerland

Five miles in a taxi here costs on average £23, so it might be worth buying some running shoes.

7 | Singapore

A new Volkswagen Golf 2.0 TDI 140 CV 6 vel. here is an incredible £78,806: in Santo Domingo, for example, the price is 86 per cent lower.

8 | Paris, France

In Paris, rent is high at £2,141 a month – though predictably enough, red wine and eating out are on the lower end of the spending scale.

9 | San Francisco

Where a bottle of decent red wine in the shops is £10.

10 | Copenhagen

Where two liters of Coca-Cola costs almost £3.

11 | Sydney

A pack of Marlboro cigarettes costs £10 here, so it’s a bad place to be a smoker.

12 | Hong Kong

Where average rent is a staggering £2,840 (though a pair of cinema tickets will only set you back £13).

13 | Brisbane

Good seats for the theater will cost around £113, while a month of gym membership in the business district is £42. On the plus side, the beach is free.

14 | The Hague, Netherlands

Where a pair of average business shoes costs £109, is next on the list.

15 | Stockholm

Where a cocktail can cost you £11: at least you’ll find it easy to cut down on the booze.

16 | Honolulu, US

Honolulu in the US is beautiful, but far from cheap: utilities here would set you back a steep £200 a month.

17 | Amsterdam

Where a meal in a fast-food restaurant is £5.70 and utilities for two people for one month is around £140.

18 | Melbourne, Australia

Here, a kg of apples costs £2.18, while a beer in a neighborhood pub is nearly £4.

19 | Tokyo

Where the average rent (for 85 m2 furnished accommodation in an affluent area) is £1,778 and a pair of cinema tickets costs upwards of £20.

20 | Washington DC

Photos Courtesy of Alamy