Human resources giant Mercer has ranked Vancouver as the 63rd most expensive city in the world for relocating expatriates.
The rank may sound low for the city that, earlier this year, displaced Sydney, Australia, for having the least-affordable housing market after Hong Kong among large English speaking cities, according to a Demographia report.
But Vancouver inched up two spots on the annual Mercer survey. Last year, Vancouver ranked as the world’s 65th most expensive city.
The priciest place to live in the world is now Tokyo, Japan, which moved up from No. 2 last year.
The world’s next three priciest cities are:
- Luanda, Angola (No. 2 last year);
- Osaka, Japan (No. 6 last year); and
- Moscow, Russia (No. 4 last year).
North American cities are not particularly pricey compared with the rest of the world. The three priciest North American cities are:
- New York (No. 33);
- Toronto (No. 61); and
- Vancouver (No. 63).
The survey ranked 214 cities across five continents and measured the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
