As of mid-2025, Port of Spain ranked as the second Latin American and Caribbean city with the highest cost of living. The capital of ******************* obtained an index score of ****, followed by the ********* capital, with **** points.

As of October 2024, the city with the most expensive hotel rate in the United States was Boston. Visitors to the East Coast city could expect to pay 320 U.S. dollars for a doube room during that period. Meanwhile, New York ranked third with an average rate of 284 U.S. dollars.

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.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the most expensive city for business travel in the Americas (excluding the United States) was Toronto, with daily costs amounting to nearly *** U.S. dollars. San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital, followed in the ranking, with daily costs for hotels, food, and transportation reaching an average of around *** U.S. dollars.

In the last quarter of 2024, three of the ten most expensive cities in the United States for business travel when it comes to food costs were located in California. However, the ranking was topped by Honolulu, which average daily food cost amounted to *** U.S. dollars at that time.

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.

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.

Cities in the United States dominate the list of cities with the highest rents worldwide. New York was ranked as the most expensive city to rent in, ahead of San Francisco, with an index score of ***. Boston followed in third.

Zurich in Switzerland was the most expensive business travel destination in Europe based on the average daily cost for food in 2020. That year, Zurich's total average meal price, including spending on breakfast, lunch, and dinner, amounted to roughly *** U.S. dollars. Another Swiss city, Basel, ranked second on the list in 2020, with daily food costs of around *** U.S. dollars.

Puerto Rico's capital ranked in the second quarter of 2025 as the most expensive destination among major business travel cities in Latin America. In those months, a business trip to San Juan could cost on average around *** U.S. dollars per day, including hotel, basic meals, and transportation from the airport to the city center.

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.

This statistic shows the the most expensive cities in the world for a romantic getaway as of December 2015, by the average cost of amenities. New York City in the United States ranked as the most expensive city for a romantic getaway, two drinks at in a hotel bar there would cost *** U.S. dollars on average. The cost of the entire trip would total ***** U.S. dollars.

Zurich in Switzerland was the most expensive business travel destination in Europe based on the average daily hotel costs in 2020. That year, Zurich's average fee for hotels amounted to roughly *** U.S. dollars. Another Swiss city, Geneva, ranked second on the list in 2020, with daily hotel costs of around *** U.S. dollars.

In the first quarter of 2025, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Honolulu were some of the U.S. cities with the highest housing construction costs. Meanwhile, Phoenix had one of the lowest construction costs for high-end multifamily homes at *** U.S. dollars per square foot and Las Vegas for single-family homes between *** and *** U.S. dollars per square foot. Construction cost disparities As seen here, the construction cost for a high-end multi-family home in San Francisco in the first quarter of 2024 was over ***** more expensive than in Phoenix. Meanwhile, there were also great differences in the cost of building a single-family house in New York and in Portland or Seattle. Some factors that may cause these disparities are the construction materials, installation, and composite costs, differing land values, wages, etc. For example, although the price of construction materials in the U.S. was rising at a slower level than in 2022 and 2023, several materials that are essential in most construction projects had growth rates of over **** percent in 2024. Growing industry revenue Despite the economic uncertainty and other challenges, the size of the private construction market in the U.S. rose during the past years. It is important to consider that supply and demand for housing influences the revenue of this segment of the construction market. On the supply side, single-family home construction fell in 2023, but it is expected to rise in 2024 and 2025. On the demand side, some of the U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest sale prices of single-family homes were located in California, with San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at the top of the ranking.

In 2023, San Francisco was the city with the highest land prices in the United States at approximately *********** U.S. dollars per acre. Other cities in California such as San Jose and Los Angeles were at the top of the ranking, along with Urban Honolulu and New York City. Austin was the only Texan city that made it into the ranking.

In 2024, New York, NY, was the most expensive rental market for one-bedroom apartments in the United States. The median monthly rental rate of an apartment in New York was ***** U.S. dollars, while in San Francisco, CA which ranked second highest, renters paid on average ***** U.S. dollars.

In 2025, U.S. cities were some of the most expensive places in the world for hiring a 50-ton mobile crane and an operator for a day. Mobile cranes cost nearly ***** U.S. dollars per square meter per day in New York. This was followed by Houston, Vancouver, Melbourne, and San Francisco. In contrast, the city in the ranking with the lowest mobile crane costs was Shanghai - just at *** U.S. dollars per square meter for a day.

Amsterdam is set to maintain its position as Europe's most expensive city for apartment rentals in 2025, with median costs reaching 2,500 euros per month for a furnished unit. This figure is double the rent in Prague and significantly higher than other major European capitals like Paris, Berlin, and Madrid. The stark difference in rental costs across European cities reflects broader economic trends, housing policies, and the complex interplay between supply and demand in urban centers. Factors driving rental costs across Europe The disparity in rental prices across European cities can be attributed to various factors. In countries like Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, a higher proportion of the population lives in rental housing. This trend contributes to increased demand and potentially higher living costs in these nations. Conversely, many Eastern and Southern European countries have homeownership rates exceeding 90 percent, which may help keep rental prices lower in those regions. Housing affordability and market dynamics The relationship between housing prices and rental rates varies significantly across Europe. As of 2024, countries like Turkey, Iceland, Portugal, and Hungary had the highest house price to rent ratio indices. This indicates a widening gap between property values and rental costs since 2015. The affordability of homeownership versus renting differs greatly among European nations, with some countries experiencing rapid increases in property values that outpace rental growth. These market dynamics influence rental costs and contribute to the diverse rental landscape observed across European cities.

In 2024, the annual rent of a retail space in Upper 5th Avenue (49th to 60th Sts) in New York amounted to 2,000 U.S. dollars per square foot, making it the second-most expensive high street worldwide. Via Montenapoleone in Milan ranked top, with prime rents amounting to 2,047 U.S. dollars.

In the second quarter of 2025, Portland and San Francisco were some of the most expensive cities in the United States for the construction of general hospitals. The cost of building a hospital in Portland ranged between ***** and ***** U.S. dollars. Boston and Los Angeles were the next cities in the ranking. Meanwhile, Las Vegas was one of the cheapest city in the list to build a general hospital.