Tokyo
Tokyo beat out Hong Kong this year as the most expensive city in the world, according to the annual Mercer survey. Japan is experiencing deflation, but the cost of living there went up anyway, largely because of stratospheric housing costs. Monthly rent on a Tokyo apartment can easily run to $10,000. Moscow; Osaka, Japan; Hong Kong; and Beijing rounded out the top five cities, followed by several European cities. New York, the highest-ranking U.S. city, came in at No. 10 this year, down from No. 7. The survey measures the comparative cost of housing, food, clothing, transportation, and entertainment in 144 cities around the world.
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