World's 20 Most Expensive Cities (PHOTOS): ECA International Survey

With the economic recovery sputtering along Americans may still not feel much relief in when it comes to their pocketbooks, but they can at least be relieved to know that, according to a new survey, not a single U.S. city ranks among the top 25 most expensive urban areas to live in in the world.

The rankings, released last month as part of ECA International's Cost of Living Survey, found the most expensive U.S. city to be (no real surprise here) Manhattan, which landed at number 29 on the list. (This year's #1: Tokyo.) The next American city to appear was Honolulu, at number 41.

According to ECA International, its cost of living indices are "calculated based upon surveys carried out annually in March and September using a basket of day-to-day goods and services." See a full explanation of their methodology here.

So what are the most expensive cities in the world? Find out below.

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1. Tokyo, Japan

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Most Overpriced City

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[bobboyme]

01:50 PM on 07/15/2010

HIllARY CLINTON AND OBAMA SUPPORT AFRICAN DICTATORS:

Please join Gabonese community at State Department March tomorrow Friday at 10:00am to ask Obama and Hillary Clinton to stop support for Gabon's dictator and 43-year-old regime.

Here is the letter we wrote Hillary:

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Wednesday, June 30, 2010

RE: July 16 Protest at State Department and White House, and Request to Renounce and Revoke Words of Support to the 43-Year-Old Bongo Dictatorship in Gabon

Dear Madam Secretary of State:

This letter is to inform you that the Gabonese community residing in the United States is planning a demonstration at both the State Department and the White House on Friday, July 16 beginning at 10:00am. We are protesting your words of support to the 43-year-old Bongo dictatorship in Gabon. We are also respectfully asking that you revoke and renounce your words. It is our opinion that your blunt and enthusiastic words of support to the Gabonese dictator not only showed poor judgment, but may have equally, in fact, caused irreparable harm to any prospect of Gabon ever engaging on a path to real and sustainable democracy.

The full letter in ENGLISH is available on this page: http://www.bdpgabon.org/articles/2010/07/04/manifestation-du-16-juillet-a-washington-des-gabonais-ecrivent-a-hillary-clinton-demandent-le-retrait-de-son-soutien-au-dictateur-gabonais/

Please Join Us, support the protest.

[santiago sherwood]

01:05 PM on 07/15/2010

some of these third world cities are not expensive if you live like a local but no one want to live like a local in the third world.

[trutheau]

12:53 PM on 07/14/2010

I don't understand why Japan ends up on this list so many times. I lived there for six years and I find it to be much cheaper than Vancouver, where I live now. A bowl of ramen in Tokyo, less than 5 bucks. A bowl of ramen in Vancouver, about 8 bucks. And not nearly as good.

[avvocato]

10:54 AM on 07/13/2010

Really kind of a bogus ranking since cost of accomations is not part of the criteria.

[Pete Davies]

09:27 AM on 07/12/2010

Nice to see Luanda at #3, i spent 3 years living there and i can tell you it is insanely expensive... US$25,000 a month to rent a 4 bed house and US$45 for box of washing powder.

[Sall Elene Sieng]

06:46 AM on 07/12/2010

That is a wonderful and beautiful city that i never see ....Wow,that is amazing city and modern city. In addition,i think it is the expensive city that mix alot of nice thing and new technology.//

[streetmagik]

02:08 AM on 07/12/2010

where is new york - they were listing cities in nigeria

[netzwerg]

05:36 AM on 07/12/2010

You can live quite cheap in the Bronx or Brooklyn. New York does not equal Manhattan.

[Greg2000]

09:25 AM on 07/13/2010

Very true

[Hambali]

05:17 PM on 07/14/2010

Same can be said of every expensive city. Bronx or Brooklyn does not equal NY as well. I have lived in Abuja Nigeria and also in NY. On the average, NY is a more expensive city to live in than Abuja in Nigeria.

[trucap]

12:20 AM on 07/12/2010

Thanks god , Joplin , MO. missed the survey . We are definitely lucky . we still have couple walmart around town .

[neesy08]

10:43 PM on 07/11/2010

why isn't london, england listed/ it is ridiculous how much it cost to have a resident in central london. the only people that can afford it are the aristos, royalty, ceo's sheiks-the very rich. the middle class now live in the home counties that surround london (that would be buckinghamshire, kent, surrey, sussex, kent, etc. for those who don't know anything about england).

[Jennifer Hagan]

03:19 AM on 07/12/2010

That isn't necessarily true. I have a friend that lives in london proper and she owns her flat. She isn't a millionaire. She just happened upon something. You still have people living in London that aren't rich. I will say that it is very, very expensive. You might be eating beans on toast forever but hey. It can be done. The same in Paris. I think they are listing this according to average salary and the cost of living in the city. You still have people making a livable wage in England. In France, the wages are low and the apartments are high in Paris. Lots of adults have roommates.

[DoctorWhoDat]

06:33 PM on 07/11/2010

Philly didn't make it? Even with the city wage tax.

[easarsfield]

06:24 PM on 07/11/2010

I'm going to quit complaining about how expensive LA is !

[Lore Splitt]

05:58 PM on 07/11/2010

Last time I checked, Manhattan wasn't a city, but a borough in New York City... Average the cost of living with the other boroughs that make up the actual city, and I'm sure we'd be lower down on the list.

[BadBadKitty]

05:49 PM on 07/11/2010

WHAT A Coincidence !
I Own a House or a Condo in Every One of These Cities!

[netzwerg]

05:37 AM on 07/12/2010

Do you want to become my next Ex-wife?

[natchez]

04:00 PM on 07/11/2010

I find it interesting that about a week ago Huff had the happiest places to live survey and the Scandanavian countries came in with the most "happiest", and here you have several of the same places as the most expensive places to live. Something appears to be wrong with this depiction of the happiest and the most expensive being on an equal basis.

[stillfresh]

04:24 PM on 07/11/2010

the happiness is from health care. the cost is because of health care, everything else falling in place. When you don't fear illness because you have access to care, that's happiness. Apparently it's cost is only repugnant to conservative Americans, who appear to be in most cases, quite miserable.

[Lore Splitt]

06:00 PM on 07/11/2010

Also, most of those places offer free schooling through college- and, it's an excellent education on top of that. I went to High School with a few girls from Denmark and Finland, and they were repulsed by how simple the regents classes were we took.

[DesertShores]

07:23 PM on 07/11/2010

I won't flag as abusive, just stu--pid.

[tploomis]

05:23 PM on 07/11/2010

The nicest places are going to be the most expensive--- it's supply and demand. Eventually a place becomes too expensive for how nice it is, and it subsequently becomes less nice. Why do you think Honolulu is not only the most expensive American city and also the nicest? People want to live there, they are willing to pay more for that privilege, and so the price goes up.

[davidwayneosedach]

11:16 AM on 07/11/2010

I thought London was more expensive than New York.

[netzwerg]

12:42 PM on 07/11/2010

Not anymore, since the pound tanked.