2024's Most and Least Expensive Locations for International Moves

Mercer has published a new cost-of-living analysis, ranking the most expensive and least expensive cities (226 cities in all) for international transferees and assignees in 2024. 

If you are sending talent abroad these days, you may be familiar with many of these top cost spots as you review and approve cost estimates for your mobile employees. But you might be surprised by a few of these entries. The review assessed the comparative costs of over 200 items in each location — from housing and transportation to food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. To ensure consistency in city-ranking comparisons, as usual New York City was utilized as the base city and currency movements were measured against the US dollar. 

Why should you care? First, the cost of living impacts your local, local+, and expatriate populations. As employees move to a specific location, they will take on the costs associated with living there, sometimes supported by their global mobility benefits. High living costs have required some assignees to adjust their lifestyles and cut back on discretionary spending. Some employees have even struggled to meet their basic needs.  

For companies, cost of living can add to the challenges of attracting and retaining top talent. High cost of living increases what companies have to spend on compensation and benefits, plus adding to operational costs. As always, mobility programs are looking for win-win solutions where they can provide critical, meaningful support for employees (and families). At the same time, there is a lot of pressure on companies to contain costs and carefully manage mobility spending. 

Now for the numbers.

Here are the Top 10 most expensive cities in the rankings:

1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. Zurich
4. Geneva
5. Basel
6. Bern
7. New York City
8. London
9. Nassau
10. Los Angeles

There are no surprises for the top 5 most expensive cities, as 1-5 are identical to last year's ranking. However, this year Los Angeles moved into the top 10, and Copenhagen dropped one spot out of it. London climbed 9 spots to reach #8. 

Some other notable risers on the list: 

• Mexico City went up 46 spots and now is ranked #33. 
• Edinburgh increased 33 spots to reach 53rd most expensive. 
• Other UK cities also jumped quite a bit. 
• Chinese cities dropped slightly with Shanghai dropping 11 spots to rank 23rd, and Beijing dropping 12 spots to rank 25th. 
• Other cities in Asia also dropped, with Seoul going down 16 spots to #32 and Tokyo dropping pretty significantly to the 49th spot on the list. 

Now for the flip side. 

Here are the least expensive cities in the report:

1. Abuja
2. Lagos
3. Islamabad
4. Bishkek
5. Karachi
6. Blantyre
7. Dushanbe
8. Durban
9. Windhoek
10. Havana

Housing has a major impact on these rankings. Most of the top 10 most expensive cities also saw housing increases, coming in at between 3% and 8% for all the cities except Nassau, Bahamas, which reported no change to rental prices. The range of change in housing costs across the rankings was dramatic. Istanbul saw an average price increase of 301%, while Tel Aviv saw a decrease of 22%. and Minsk, Belarus, saw a housing cost decrease of 10%. 

Other notable increases in housing prices include Dubai (+21%) New Delhi (average rental costs +13%), and Miami, Florida (also +13%).

As Mercer explains, rising housing costs in many cities around the world have made it increasingly challenging for organizations to attract and retain top talent for international assignments. As housing costs rise, organizations may need to allocate a larger portion of their budgets to provide competitive compensation packages that include housing allowances or subsidies.