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.

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.

According to a mid-2024 index, *********** was the most expensive country to live in Europe, with an index score of ****.******** followed in the second place with around ** points less.

Comprehensive rankings and historical records of petrol (Euro 95) and diesel prices across EU countries, including cheapest and most expensive fuel prices, price volatility statistics, and long-term trends.

The average for 2021 based on 165 countries was 108.07 index points. The highest value was in Singapore: 355.77 index points and the lowest value was in Syria: 58.27 index points. The indicator is available from 2017 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The Global Cost of 1GB of Mobile Data

How Much Does it Really Cost?

By Andy Kriebel [source]

About this dataset

This dataset contains the average price of 1GB of mobile data by country. It includes data for over 150 countries, providing a valuable resource for anyone interested in global mobile data pricing trends. The data is sourced from Visual Capitalist, and was last updated in 2021

How to use the dataset

This dataset contains the average price of 1GB of mobile data by country as of April 2021. The data is sourced from Visual Capitalist.

To use this dataset, you can simply download it and then open it in your preferred spreadsheet software. The dataset is organized by rank, with the most expensive countries being listed first. Each row also lists the country's name and its corresponding average price for 1GB of mobile data.

If you want to compare the cost of mobile data across different countries, this dataset provides a useful starting point. You can also use it to track how prices have changed over time by comparing against previous editions of the dataset

Research Ideas

1. To compare the cost of living in different countries.

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2. To find out which countries have the most expensive mobile data plans.

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**3. To see how the cost of mobile data has changed over time

Acknowledgements

Data Source

License

License: Dataset copyright by authors - You are free to: - Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially. - Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. - You must: - Give appropriate credit - Provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. - ShareAlike - You must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. - Keep intact - all notices that refer to this license, including copyright notices.

Columns

File: Cost of 1GB of Data.csv | Column name | Description | |:---------------------------|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Rank | The rank of the country based on the cost of 1GB of mobile data. (Numeric) | | Country | The country where the data was collected. (String) | | Avg Price of 1GB (USD) | The average price of 1GB of mobile data in the country, in USD. (Numeric) |

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit Andy Kriebel.

The ranking of internet costs in various countries shows significant differences, driven by economic, political, and infrastructure factors.

The average for 2021 based on 165 countries was 105.854 index points. The highest value was in South Korea: 208.84 index points and the lowest value was in India: 58.17 index points. The indicator is available from 2017 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Comprehensive comparison of Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index vs. Price (USD per M Tokens, Log Scale, More Expensive to Cheaper) by Model

Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia, ranked as the most expensive city to live in Africa as of 2024, considering consumer goods prices. The Ethiopian capital obtained an index score of ****, followed by Harare, in Zimbabwe, with ****. Morocco and South Africa were the countries with the most representatives among the ** cities with the highest cost of living in Africa.

The average for 2021 based on 156 countries was 116.77 index points. The highest value was in Bahrain: 249.82 index points and the lowest value was in Ukraine: 56.68 index points. The indicator is available from 2017 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

A dataset listing the richest zip codes in South Carolina per the most current US Census data, including information on rank and average income.

In 2024, Tokyo was ranked as the most expensive market worldwide for data center construction. The cost per watt in the Japanese capital was reported at **** U.S. dollars, ahead of Singapore at **** U.S. dollars. A range of local factors such as land prices, labor availability, and power costs can heavily impact data center construction pricing.

As of July 2025, the cost of living in Barrancabermeja was the highest among major Colombian cities. In total, the average cost per month amounted to *** U.S. dollars. Medellín followed in the ranking, with a monthly cost of living of *** U.S. dollars at that time.

In the United States, Hawaii was the state with the most expensive housing, with the typical value of single-family homes in the 35th to 65th percentile range exceeding ******* U.S. dollars. Unsurprisingly, Hawaii also ranked top as the state with the highest cost of living. Meanwhile, a property was the least expensive in West Virginia, where it cost under ******* U.S. dollars to buy the typical single-family home. Single-family home prices increased across most states in the United States between December 2023 and December 2024, except in Louisiana, Florida, and the District of Colombia. According to the Federal Housing Association, house appreciation in 13 states exceeded **** percent in 2023.

According to a recent study, Colombia had the lowest monthly cost of living in Latin America with 546 U.S. dollars needed for basic living. In contrast, four countries had a cost of living above one thousand dollars, Costa Rica, Chile, Panama and Uruguay. In 2022, the highest minimum wage in the region was recorded by Ecuador with 425 dollars per month.

Can Latin Americans survive on a minimum wage? Even if most countries in Latin America have instated laws to guarantee citizens a basic income, these minimum standards are often not enough to meet household needs. For instance, it was estimated that almost 22 million people in Mexico lacked basic housing services. Salary levels also vary greatly among Latin American economies. In 2022, the average net monthly salary in Brazil was lower than Ecuador's minimum wage.

What can a minimum wage afford in Latin America? Latin American real wages have generally risen in the past decade. However, consumers in this region still struggle to afford non-basic goods, such as tech products. Recent estimates reveal that, in order to buy an iPhone, Brazilian residents would have to work more than two months to be able to pay for it. A gaming console, on the other hand, could easily cost a Latin American worker several minimum wages.

Portugal, Canada, and the United States were the countries with the highest house price to income ratio in 2024. In all three countries, the index exceeded 130 index points, while the average for all OECD countries stood at 116.2 index points. The index measures the development of housing affordability and is calculated by dividing nominal house price by nominal disposable income per head, with 2015 set as a base year when the index amounted to 100. An index value of 120, for example, would mean that house price growth has outpaced income growth by 20 percent since 2015. How have house prices worldwide changed since the COVID-19 pandemic? House prices started to rise gradually after the global financial crisis (2007–2008), but this trend accelerated with the pandemic. The countries with advanced economies, which usually have mature housing markets, experienced stronger growth than countries with emerging economies. Real house price growth (accounting for inflation) peaked in 2022 and has since lost some of the gain. Although, many countries experienced a decline in house prices, the global house price index shows that property prices in 2023 were still substantially higher than before COVID-19. Renting vs. buying In the past, house prices have grown faster than rents. However, the home affordability has been declining notably, with a direct impact on rental prices. As people struggle to buy a property of their own, they often turn to rental accommodation. This has resulted in a growing demand for rental apartments and soaring rental prices.

Inhabitants of the Ibizan municipality of Santa Eulalia del Río needed almost 60 years of household income to pay off their mortgage in 2018, making this coastal town the least affordable municipality to purchase a property in Spain. In contrast, the most affordable area to purchase a home in Spain that year was located in Andalusia. Furthermore, the central region of Castile-La Mancha appeared several times on the list of most affordable municipalities to rent in Spain.

The most expensive coastal areas Out of the five main islands that comprise the Balearic province, ***** are listed as the most expensive coastal areas of Spain. Ibiza and Formentera’s coasts ranked as the least affordable coasts in terms of property prices, with their average price per square meter amounting to nearly *** thousand euros. The Basque province of Gipuzkoa was the second most expensive coastal area of Spain, with an average price that reached approximately **** thousand euros per square meter as of the first quarter of 2019.

Spain: the rebirth of a broken property market After a long period of time in which Spain’s real estate prices increased sharply, the market was hit by the global financial crisis of 2007, making the Spanish property bubble collapse and damaging home value. According to the European Mortgage Federation (EMF), real estate prices in Spain initiated a solid recovery in 2015, reaching **** house price index points in 2018 from a lowest point of **** index points recorded in 2014. The property market has made great progress, but it is still far off the rest of its European counterparts, and it is positioned, in fact, at the bottom of the European list of the EMF’s house price index, which is led by Sweden at ***** index points. In 2016, 200 thousand euros could still buy a *** square-meter home on average in Spain, whereas it would only allow for a ** square-meter apartment in France.

In 2025, a two-bedroom apartment at a fair market rent in New York HMFA and Westchester County Statutory Exception Area would require renters to earn at least ******U.S. dollars per hour, making it the most expensive metropolitan areas to rent in New York. The Nassau-Suffolk HMFA ranked second most expensive, with a minimum hourly wage requirement of ******U.S. dollars for a two-bedroom apartment. On the other hand, Yates County HMFA was the most affordable areas requiring renters to earn less than ** U.S. dollars to afford renting a two-bedroom apartment. The monthly fair market rent required for a two-bedroom apartment in New York during this period was between ******and ***** U.S. dollars depending on the metropolitan area.

Hawaii is the state with the highest household electricity price in the United States. In February 2025, the average retail price of electricity for Hawaiian residences amounted to 41.11 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. California followed in second, with 32.41 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. Meanwhile, Utah registered the lowest price in the period, at around 12.41 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. Why is electricity so expensive in Hawaii? Fossil fuels, and specifically oil, account for approximately 80 percent of Hawaii’s electricity mix, so the electricity price in this state can be roughly brought down to the price of oil in the country. Oil was by far the most expensive fossil fuel used for electricity generation in the country. As Hawaii depends on oil imports, the cost of transportation and infrastructure must be added to the oil price. Electricity prices worldwide The U.S. retail price for electricity increased almost every year since 1990. In 2024, it stood at 13 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour, almost double the charge put on electricity back in 1990. However, household electricity prices are around 25 U.S. dollar cents per kilowatt-hour lower in the U.S. when compared to European countries reliant on energy imports, such as Germany and Italy.