The cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco are positioned among the ten most expensive cities in the world to live in according to the most recent report on the Global Cost of Living 2023 prepared by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) cited by the television station Californian KTLA.
The research compared more than 400 prices of 200 products and services in 173 cities, revealing that, despite the easing of supply chains and the rise in energy prices, the average cost of living increased by 7.4%. In total, three American cities are part of the top ten most expensive cities: Los Angeles is in sixth place, while San Francisco is in tenth position. For its part, New York City, which ranked first last year, and Geneva in Switzerland, share third place. Singapore and Zurich top the list tied for the most expensive.
The city of Los Angeles is second only to Hong Kong, and above Paris, Copenhagen and Tel Aviv. Damascus, the capital of Syria, remains the most economical city on the planet.
The analysis details that this is the ninth time in 11 years that Singapore has been classified as the most expensive metropolis to live in, according to EIU data. Los Angeles surpasses other major cities such as Paris, Copenhagen and Tel Aviv in costs, some areas of this Californian city require incomes close to six figures to be able to live comfortably, and recent statistics indicate that the average price of a home in Los Angeles County Los Angeles exceeds $900,000.
For its part, San Francisco, despite occupying tenth position, has some of the highest rents in the country, with those Bay residents who earn $100,000 a year being considered “low income.”
Within the ten categories of the price index, utilities showed the smallest increase, reflecting the diminishing impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In contrast, grocery prices continue to increase significantly.
Four of the ten most expensive cities according to the report are in Western Europe, inflation has significantly impacted the cost of food with an increase of 7.8% and clothing with an increase of 7.2%, as well as the appreciation of the euro and other local currencies, have caused its rise in the list.
On the other hand, Chinese cities have fallen in the ranking, with four representatives among those that have fallen the most due to a slow post-pandemic economic recovery, lagging consumer demand and devaluation of their currency. The Russian cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg have seen the steepest declines as a result of sanctions that have weakened the ruble.
For their part, in Latin America, three cities stand out as those that have risen the most in the ranking: Santiago de Querétaro and Aguascalientes in Mexico and San José, Costa Rica. Central banks in much of this region were among the first to follow the U.S. Federal Reserve’s lead in raising interest rates in an effort to support their currencies. As a consequence, both the Mexican peso and the Costa Rican colon appreciated against the US dollar at the time of the analysis.
The highest inflation is in Caracas, Venezuela, where prices have risen 450% since last year. However, the city continues to be excluded from the average calculation of global inflation to avoid distortions in the results.