Most Expensive city in the world

A recent report has highlighted what probably many of us living in London already know. We are living in the most expensive city in the world. The report in the Evening Standard, listed London as number one in the world for living costs including rent.

The order was

London
New York
Oslo
Tokyo
Zurich
Copenhagen
Geneva
Dublin
Chicago
Los Angeles

Back in 2003, London was 3rd, so as you can see things are getting no better at all.

The point made is that everyday living costs are higher in London than anywhere else in the world, even without adding rent, we are only behind Oslo. Of course it is obvious we don’t have the wages to match our living costs.

The figures are based on wages, cost of public services, travel and various other goods and services. Any wonder London tops the lists, given our so so expensive travel – tube, buses, and trains. An example given was that a single second class ticket for a typical 120 mile journey will cost £47.80 in London, the nearest is New York at £27.50, the best part of nearly half the cost. Back in 2003, we were still top by only by £7 instead of the whopping £20+ now.

If you consider the level of personal debt in the UK, you can see the correlation. It hit the trillion pound mark earlier this year when including mortgages, so if you work that out, it was a case that for every man, woman and child in the UK owes over £11K+.

That is an astonishing figure, and with London being the most expensive city, you can certainly expect that figure to rise.

All of this must also put the tourist off coming to London, as it was noted in the survey, other than Tokyo, which beat London by £5, we are the most expensive city to visit. Not exactly a selling point is it.

If anyone else has any figures to show about this, please show them, be happy to add them to the entry and maybe there is a way to combat this, not just for the tourists, but especially for the locals whom just don’t have the wages people assume they do.