The world’s most (and least) expensive cities to live in, according to locals

Generally speaking, the cost of living is higher in cities than in smaller towns and rural areas, particularly when it comes to rental and housing costs. But in some cities, it feels like simply stepping outside your front door can wipe out your bank account. 

At Time Out, we survey thousands of city-dwellers across the planet to create our annual ranking of the world’s best cities. While stuff like great nightlife, food and culture are all important in measuring a city’s greatness, so too is affordability. 

We asked locals in over 100 cities to rate the affordability of a bunch of day-to-day activities: eating out to a restaurant, going to see a movie, grabbing a coffee, going to see art, going to see theatre or comedy, going to see live music, getting a drink in a bar and going on a night out. Based on the percentages of respondents who answered ‘cheap or free’ and ‘affordable’, we’ve crunched the data to figure out the planet’s cheapest and most expensive cities to live in, all according to the people who actually live there.

With the lowest overall affordability score, Seoul emerged as the most expensive city on the list. Only 30 percent of respondents living in the South Korean capital said eating out at a restaurant was affordable; 21 percent said the same for going on a night out and 27 percent said it was cheap to grab a drink.

Elsewhere on the expensive list is Oslo in Norway. The Norwegian capital is notoriously pricey to eat out in, and our data backs that up – Oslo received the lowest affordability score for eating out at a restaurant of all cities surveyed, with only 24 percent of locals agreeing it was affordable.

Locals’ responses placed famously costly cities like London, Sydney and Los Angeles on the list, all of which appeared on this year’s Henley & Partners annual expensive cities report. While London was by far the most expensive place for a night out, with a measly 16 percent agreeing it was affordable, the UK capital was named one of the cheapest cities to see art, with 83 percent of Londoners saying art and culture in their city is cheap or free. 

Recommended: The best free art in London

On the other end of the scale, two Colombian cities – Medellin and Bogotá – were named the cheapest cities to live in by locals. Eighty-nine percent of respondents in Medellin said eating out at a restaurant was affordable, 83 percent said the same for grabbing a drink and a whopping 94 percent agreed it was cheap to grab a coffee.

Perhaps surprisingly, two major metropolises in China made the cheap list. Going to the theatre won’t cost you much in Beijing or Shanghai, according to 73 percent and 72 percent of locals respectively. New Orleans is the only US city to make the affordable cities ranking, scoring particularly well for live music (with 72 percent agreeing it’s affordable) and grabbing a drink at a bar (which recieved an 83 percent affordability score).

A note on methodology

It’s worth noting that Time Out’s survey focused on the cost of going out in the city, and did not ask about the affordability of housing, rent and groceries. 

Curious to see how your city fared? Here are the most (and least) expensive cities to live in, according to locals.

Recommended: Europe’s most expensive cities for renters, revealed – and no, it’s not London

The most expensive cities, according to locals

1. Seoul, South Korea
2. Istanbul, Türkiye
3. Oslo, Norway
4. Stockholm, Sweden
5. Kyoto, Japan
6. Athens, Greece
7. Sydney, Australia
8. Auckland, New Zealand
9. Munich, Germany
10. Brisbane, Australia
11. Los Angeles, USA
12. Singapore
13. London, United Kingdom
14. Vancouver, Canada
15. Miami, USA 

The most affordable cities, according to locals

1. Medellin, Colombia
2. Bogotá, Colombia
3. Beijing, China
4. New Orleans, USA
5. Naples, Italy
6. Hanoi, Vietnam
7. Chiang Mai, Thailand
8. Shanghai, China
9. Lima, Peru
10. Jakarta, Indonesia
11. Johannesburg, South Africa
12. Bangkok, Thailand
13. Abu Dhabi, UAE
14. Santiago, Chile
15. Cape Town, South Africa

Did you see that this European capital has been named the world’s most liveable city?

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