Zurich, Lausanne, and Geneva were ranked as the most expensive cities worldwide with indices of ************************ Almost half of the 11 most expensive cities were in Switzerland.

As of September 2025, Mumbai had the highest cost of living among other cities in the country, with an index value of ****. Gurgaon, a satellite city of Delhi and part of the National Capital Region (NCR) followed it with an index value of ****.  What is cost of living? The cost of living varies depending on geographical regions and factors that affect the cost of living in an area include housing, food, utilities, clothing, childcare, and fuel among others. The cost of living is calculated based on different measures such as the consumer price index (CPI), living cost indexes, and wage price index. CPI refers to the change in the value of consumer goods and services. The wage price index, on the other hand, measures the change in labor services prices due to market pressures. Lastly, the living cost indexes calculate the impact of changing costs on different households. The relationship between wages and costs determines affordability and shifts in the cost of living. Mumbai tops the list Mumbai usually tops the list of most expensive cities in India. As the financial and entertainment hub of the country, Mumbai offers wide opportunities and attracts talent from all over the country. It is the second-largest city in India and has one of the most expensive real estates in the world.

World cities living cost data set

The data set contains information for a number of cities related to cost of living index and prices for a number of services and goods related to restaurants, markets, transportation, utilities etc.

Cost of living index is measured against New York city, meaning NYC has a cost index of 100 and the remaining cities get their cost of living index with regards to how much more or less expensive are compared to NYC. Cities where the cost of living index is not available, it has been registered as 0.

Since EU and USA have different currencies the costs have been converted to euro for all the cities in the data set.

Cost of Living Index by Country, 2024 Mid Year data Data scraped from Numbeo: www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp All credits to Numbeo: www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/

An index of 100 reflects the same living cost as in New York City, United States. As of 2024 Mid Year data, in NYC, A family of four estimated monthly costs are $6,074.40 without rent. A single person's estimated monthly costs are $1,640.90 without rent.

West Virginia and Kansas had the lowest cost of living across all U.S. states, with composite costs being half of those found in Hawaii. This was according to a composite index that compares prices for various goods and services on a state-by-state basis. In West Virginia, the cost of living index amounted to **** — well below the national benchmark of 100. Virginia— which had an index value of ***** — was only slightly above that benchmark. Expensive places to live included Hawaii, Massachusetts, and California. Housing costs in the U.S. Housing is usually the highest expense in a household’s budget. In 2023, the average house sold for approximately ******* U.S. dollars, but house prices in the Northeast and West regions were significantly higher. Conversely, the South had some of the least expensive housing. In West Virginia, Mississippi, and Louisiana, the median price of the typical single-family home was less than ******* U.S. dollars. That makes living expenses in these states significantly lower than in states such as Hawaii and California, where housing is much pricier. What other expenses affect the cost of living? Utility costs such as electricity, natural gas, water, and internet also influence the cost of living. In Alaska, Hawaii, and Connecticut, the average monthly utility cost exceeded *** U.S. dollars. That was because of the significantly higher prices for electricity and natural gas in these states.

Cost of living indices are relative to New York City (NYC) which means that for New York City, each index should be 100. If another city has, for example, rent index of 120, it means that on an average in that city rents are 20% more expensive than in New York City. If a city has rent index of 70, that means on an average in that city rents are 30% less expensive than in New York City.

Cost of Living Index (Excl. Rent) is a relative indicator of consumer goods prices, including groceries, restaurants, transportation and utilities. Cost of Living Index doesn't include accommodation expenses such as rent or mortgage. If a city has a Cost of Living Index of 120, it means Numbeo estimates it is 20% more expensive than New York (excluding rent).

Rent Index is an estimation of prices of renting apartments in the city compared to New York City. If Rent index is 80, Numbeo estimates that price of rents in that city is on an average 20% less than the price in New York.

Groceries Index is an estimation of grocery prices in the city compared to New York City. To calculate this section, Numbeo uses weights of items in the "Markets" section for each city.

Restaurants Index is a comparison of prices of meals and drinks in restaurants and bars compared to NYC.

Cost of Living Plus Rent Index is an estimation of consumer goods prices including rent comparing to New York City.

Local Purchasing Power shows relative purchasing power in buying goods and services in a given city for the average wage in that city. If domestic purchasing power is 40, this means that the inhabitants of that city with the average salary can afford to buy on an average 60% less goods and services than New York City residents with an average salary.

About This Dataset

This dataset is the original 70-city version used in my first published research paper: “A Data-Driven Survey on Cost of Living and Salary Affordability in Indian Cities” (IJRASET, 2025) Link: https://www.ijraset.com/best-journal/a-datadriven-survey-on-cost-of-livingsalary-affordability-in-indian-cities

It was created using web-scraping techniques from LivingCost.org and converted to INR using a consistent USD→INR exchange rate. This dataset forms the foundational base for affordability analysis, exploratory data analysis (EDA), and benchmarking cost-of-living patterns across India.

The dataset includes 70+ Indian cities, with fields covering living cost, rent, salary, affordability ratio (“months covered”), and derived financial indicators. It is clean, structured, and suitable for beginner to intermediate analytics projects.

Why This Dataset?

This dataset is ideal for:

EDA practice for college & school projects

Correlation and regression analysis

Basic ML tasks (predicting salary, affordability, rent, etc.)

Urban economics mini-projects

Dashboard creation (PowerBI, Tableau)

Data cleaning and preprocessing assignments

It is designed to be simple enough for students but structured enough for real-world analysis.

Features Included

Each row represents a city/state-level affordability profile with:

Cost of living (USD & INR)

Rent for a single person (USD & INR)

Monthly after-tax salary (USD & INR)

Income after rent

“Months Covered” affordability ratio

Source URLs for verification

Exchange rate used

This makes the dataset both transparent and reliable for academic usage.

Data Quality

Web-scraped directly from LivingCost.org

Cleaned and standardized

Currency converted uniformly

Non-city entries flagged

Fully reproducible from the source

This dataset served as the master input for my peer-reviewed paper and has been validated through statistical analysis.

Intended Audience

Students (school, undergraduate, postgraduate)

Data science beginners

Educators needing real datasets for teaching

Analysts looking for quick EDA practice

Researchers exploring affordability or urban economics

Note

A more comprehensive 200+ city enhanced dataset (used in my second paper) will be uploaded soon, including ICT metrics, GDP, and extended affordability indicators.

Dataset

This dataset was created by Raja CSP

Released under Apache 2.0

Contents

In 2025, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for medical professional services in the United States was at 432.46, compared to the period from 1982 to 1984 (=100). The CPI for hospital services was at 1,102.12.

The US Family Budget Dataset provides insights into the cost of living in different US counties based on the Family Budget Calculator by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

This dataset offers community-specific estimates for ten family types, including one or two adults with zero to four children, in all 1877 counties and metro areas across the United States.

Interesting Task Ideas:

1. See how family budgets compare to the federal poverty line and the Supplemental Poverty Measure in different counties.
2. Look into the money challenges faced by different types of families using the budgets provided.
3. Find out which counties have the most affordable places to live, food, transportation, healthcare, childcare, and other things people need.
4. Explore how the average income of families relates to the overall cost of living in different counties.
5. Investigate how family size affects the estimated budget and find counties where bigger families have higher costs.
6. Create visuals showing how the cost of living varies across different states and big cities.
7. Check whether specific counties are affordable for families of different sizes and types.
8. Use the dataset to compare living standards and economic security in different US counties.

If you find this dataset valuable, don't forget to hit the upvote button! 😊💝

Checkout my other datasets

Employment-to-Population Ratio for USA

Productivity and Hourly Compensation

130K Kindle Books

900K TMDb Movies

USA Unemployment Rates by Demographics & Race

Photo by Alev Takil on Unsplash

Cost of living index for 578 cities - 2022

• Rank
• City
• Cost of living index
• Rent index
• Cost of living index plus rent index
• Groceries index
• Restaurant price index
• Local purchasing power index

Cost of living data based on food, housing, utilities, transportation, healthcare, and consumer discretionary spending in the United States.

The average for 2021 based on 165 countries was 79.81 index points. The highest value was in Bermuda: 212.7 index points and the lowest value was in Syria: 33.25 index points. The indicator is available from 2017 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Of the most populous cities in the U.S., San Jose, California had the highest annual income requirement at ******* U.S. dollars annually for homeowners to have an affordable and comfortable life in 2024. This can be compared to Houston, Texas, where homeowners needed an annual income of ****** U.S. dollars in 2024.

Graph and download economic data for Estimated Mean Real Household Wages Adjusted by Cost of Living for St. Louis city, MO (MWACL29510) from 2009 to 2023 about St. Louis City, MO; St. Louis; adjusted; MO; average; wages; real; and USA.

Damascus in Syria was ranked as the least expensive city worldwide in 2023, with an index score of ** out of 100. The country has been marred by civil war over the last decade, hitting the country's economy hard. Other cities in the Middle East and North Africa, such as Tehran, Tripoli, and Tunis, are also present on the list. On the other hand, Singapore and Zurich were ranked the most expensive cities in the world.

Cost of Living Index (Excl. Rent) is a relative indicator of consumer goods prices, including groceries, restaurants, transportation and utilities. Cost of Living Index does not include accommodation expenses such as rent or mortgage. If a city has a Cost of Living Index of 120, it means Numbeo has estimated it is 20% more expensive than New York (excluding rent).

Please refer further to: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/cpi_explained.jsp for motivation and methodology.

All credits to https://www.numbeo.com .

This dataset would surely help socio-economic researchers to analyse and get deeper insights regarding the life of people country-wise.

Thanks to @andradaolteanu for the motivation! Upwards and onwards...

Cost comparison table showing 2023 and 2024 median costs by location

The Consumer Sentiment Index in the United States stood at 51 in November 2025. This reflected a drop of 2.6 point from the previous survey. Furthermore, this was its lowest level measured since June 2022. The index is normalized to a value of 100 in December 1964 and based on a monthly survey of consumers, conducted in the continental United States. It consists of about 50 core questions which cover consumers' assessments of their personal financial situation, their buying attitudes and overall economic conditions.

Living Cost: Average per Month: CF: City of Moscow data was reported at 17,740.000 RUB in Dec 2020. This records a decrease from the previous number of 18,029.000 RUB for Sep 2020. Living Cost: Average per Month: CF: City of Moscow data is updated quarterly, averaging 9,158.000 RUB from Sep 2001 (Median) to Dec 2020, with 78 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 18,029.000 RUB in Sep 2020 and a record low of 2,295.000 RUB in Sep 2001. Living Cost: Average per Month: CF: City of Moscow data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal State Statistics Service. The data is categorized under Russia Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table RU.HF001: Living Cost.