Vancouverites enjoy mountain views, ocean breezes and mild winters, but these things don’t come cheap.
The city has been ranked once again as the most expensive city in the country in Mercer’s annual cost of living survey, beating out Toronto for the second year in a row.
The study looked at 214 cities around the world and compared the cost of 200 items, including housing, food, clothing, transportation and entertainment, at each location.
The cities were ranked in terms of how costly it is for expatriate employees to live in them, and New York was used as the base city for comparison. Overall, Vancouver’s global ranking dropped significantly in this year’s list, falling 32 spots from 64th place in 2013 to 96th.
“The Canadian dollar weakened significantly against the U.S. dollar, which accounts for the major slips we saw in this year’s ranking,” said Mercer Canada principal Luc Lalonde.
“Furthermore, prices have increased at a slower pace in Canadian cities than in New York, our base city.”
The other Canadian cities on the list saw similar drops, with Toronto dipping from 68 to 101, Montreal from 95 to 123 and Calgary from 97 to 125.
Conversely, the rising U.S. dollar drove American cities further up the list. This was not the only factor leading to U.S. cities climbing in the ranking; for example, New York moved up 8 places to 16 because of rental accommodation costs.
“Even though we saw US cities rise in the rankings this year due in part to the strength of the US dollar, it’s important to note that relative costs shift with currency volatility, making overseas assignment costs sometimes greater and sometimes smaller,” Lalonde said.
Surprisingly, the two most expensive cities in the world for expatriates to live in were found in Africa: Luanda, Angola, and N’Djamena, Chad.
“Rankings in many regions were affected by recent world events, including economic and political upheavals, which resulted in currency fluctuations, cost inflation for goods and services, and volatility in accommodation prices,” said Ed Hannibal, partner and global leader for Mercer’s mobility practice. “While Luanda and N’Djamena are relatively inexpensive cities, they are quite costly for expatriates since imported goods come at a premium.
“In addition, finding secure living accommodations that meet the standards of expatriates can be challenging and quite costly as well. This is generally why some African cities rank high in our survey.”
