According to the 2017 Relocation Price Index, Singapore is now the eighth-most expensive city in the world to move to, with a basic first-month living cost of $2,148.45. All figures in this article are in U.S. dollars.
Movinga, an online moving platform, conducted a study researching 75 cities in 51 countries worldwide.
They found that Luanda, Angola had the highest basic costs for the first month, beating out New York and San Francisco. Luanda was followed by Zurich, Switzerland; London, England; Hong Kong, and Sydney, Australia. Tokyo, Japan, came in behind Singapore at ninth place, with Seattle finishing the top 10.
The 2017 Relocation Price Index calculates the basic costs associated with the first month of living in a new city. Calculations include the average rent for a 35 square-meter apartment close to the city center, the cost of a month’s data plan and mobile phone setup, a month’s worth of groceries, and a month’s use of public transport in the city.
For Singapore, here are the living expenses for the first month broken down:
- The average rent for a 35 square-meter apartment was $1,414.13 for the first month.
- The cost of a mobile phone set up was $34.74.
- A month’s worth of food and drink was a total of $629.77.
- Using the city’s public transport for the first month averaged $69.81.
Luanda, Angola, the number one most expensive city in the world to relocate to, has an average cost of $2,030.39 for the first month’s rent, with $1,124.24 in groceries and $95.89 in public transportation costs for one month. Mobile phone setup and monthly data is significantly cheaper than Singapore though, averaging at only $8.81. These give Luanda a total of $3,259.32 in living expenses for the first month.
New York comes in second with a total of $3,084.75, with San Francisco following in third place with a total of $3,050.10. Next is Zurich with $2,625.19, London with $2,614.35, Hong Kong with $2,265.41, and Sydney with $2,163.43. Tokyo follows Singapore with $2,104.13 and Seattle with $2,084.03.
