Vancouver second most expensive Canadian city, but a relative bargain globally: Report

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Vancouver is Canada’s second-most expensive city but a bargain globally, according to the latest Mercer Cost of Living survey.

The survey, published June 14, ranks 227 cities based on how affordable it is for expats to live and work there. It measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each city, including housing, transportation, food and entertainment.

This year, Vancouver placed 116th in the rankings, maintaining its spot as the second-priciest city in the country, but dropping from 108th worldwide last year.

The costliest city in Canada — Toronto — is the 90th most expensive city. Other Canadian cities on the list include Montreal (135th), Ottawa (137th) and Calgary (145th).

All the Canadian cities moved down the rankings, a different trend than in the U.S., where the cost of living has increased more year-over-year in all the American cities surveyed, noted Mercer in a news release.

While few Vancouverites would call living in the city affordable, according to the data, it’s a relative bargain globally.

The findings don’t mean Canadian cities are becoming less expensive to live in, noted Gord Frost, a partner at Mercer — just that the U.S. and other major cities in Asia and Europe have seen cost of living soar even higher.

“We all know that cost of living has been going up, inflation is a real concern, and a lot of employers and employees are struggling with increasing costs, but when we look at it from an international perspective the truth is Canadian cities in general are not seeing as high a rate of increase as other cities around the world,” said Frost.

Two Asian cities, Hong Kong and Singapore, were named the priciest in the world. Hong Kong also topped the survey last year, while Singapore jumped up six spots since 2022.

Rounding up the top five are three cities in Switzerland: Zurich, Geneva and Basel. Other cities in the top 10 include New York, Tel Aviv, Copenhagen and Nassau, Bahamas.

In the U.S., New York was named most expensive city (sixth), followed by Los Angeles (11th), San Francisco (14th), Honolulu (15th) and Boston (21st).

The Mercer survey is used by companies to design compensation packages for their international workforce. Frost said COVID-19 and the rise of remote work mean many employers are now dealing with questions about fair and equitable compensation for remote workers, who might choose to relocate to a city where the cost of living is less expensive.

“That raises questions for the employer, such as, ‘How much to allow it?,’ ‘Is it fair?,’ and, ‘If it allows employees to live remotely, do we adjust their pay accordingly?’ ”

The top 10 most expensive cities in the rankings are:

1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. Zurich
4. Geneva
5. Basel
6. New York
7. Bern
8. Tel Aviv
9. Copenhagen
10. Nassau

The top 10 least expensive cities:

1. Islamabad
2. Karachi
3. Havana
4. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
5. Dushanbe, Tajikistan
6. Windhoek, Namibia
7. Ankara
8. Durban, South Africa
9. Tunis, Tunisia
10. Tashkent, Uzbekistan

chchan@postmedia.com

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