Economy Global survey: Tokyo cheaper than San Juan

According to data recently published by Mercer, Tokyo is now the 49th most expensive city in the world, just behind San Juan, Puerto Rico, and ahead of Houston. Osaka ranks 146th, just behind Wellington; Yokohama is 154th, just behind Casablanca; and Nagoya is 161st, just behind Santiago. Mercer, a consulting subsidiary of NYSE-listed Marsh McLennan, compiles these rankings annually based on the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment. Japanese cities have been dropping rapidly in the rankings. Tokyo fell 30 places from 2023, having been No. 3 in 2020 and No. 1 in 2012. Osaka dropped 53 places in a year, becoming relatively cheaper globally. A total of 226 cities are included in the list.

Mercer found that the price of a cup of coffee in Tokyo fell 9.4% between March 2023 and March 2024, when the list was compiled. That compares with a global increase of 18.1%. Blue jean prices are flat, compared with a global average increase of 20.2%. The Mercer cost-of-living rankings follow the recent publication of the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2024 Liveability Index, which named Osaka as the most livable city in Asia, and ninth globally, and Tokyo as the 14th most livable city globally. The rankings also dovetail nicely with the Economist's Big Mac index, which shows that Japan now has one of the cheaper McDonald's Big Macs in the world, currently costing the equivalent of $3.00.

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Other cities that are more expensive than Tokyo are Beijing (25), Seoul (32), and Shenzhen (34). Phnom Penh, Cambodia (123), Bangkok (129) and Manila (131) are all more expensive than Osaka. As most of the world has been struggling with very high inflation, prices in Japan have been falling or rising at a slower pace in recent years. Japan's currency has also been falling, which is also a factor in the Mercer cost-of-living rankings. "The main factor for this change is currency fluctuations," said Mia Oshiro, a product solutions manager at Mercer Japan, noting that the dollar is the base currency used for the report.

"the dollar is the base currency used for the report."

This is good for U.S. expats but I think more interesting would be how expensive a city is based on local economy (local wages).

mdchachi said:

"the dollar is the base currency used for the report."

This is good for U.S. expats but I think more interesting would be how expensive a city is based on local economy (local wages).

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I'm sure there are lots of those lists out there though.

Here is an example for Tokyo vs Osaka: Cost of Living Comparison Between Osaka, Japan And Tokyo, Japan

mdchachi said:

"the dollar is the base currency used for the report."

This is good for U.S. expats but I think more interesting would be how expensive a city is based on local economy (local wages).

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That reminds me of a guy who quit on his less than 6 months in. We brought him from India to New Jersey on a low salary for New Jersey. He saw what to him was big numbers but then he experienced the cost of living and said he had a much better cost of living in India on an Indian salary. I think he made the correct decision.

The cost of housing here in the US and Maine blows me away. Almost all of the few houses on the market sell for more than the asking price because of bidding wars to get the house. I can't believe houses built in the 40's & 50's now sell for a half a million dollars or more. I went grocery shopping with the wife today and getting just enough for 2 people to get by for a week came to $198.00.