Numbeo's Cost of Living Index tracks the prices of essentials like groceries, utilities and transportation in countries and territories around the world, using crowdsourced data along with official sources. It covers almost everything except housing costs such as mortgages and rent.

Super-pricey New York City is the benchmark with a score of 100. One thing to bear in mind is that the data is compiled from reports in major cities in each country and territory, so the costs reflected will be higher than the actual nationwide average, since smaller cities, towns and rural areas tend to be cheaper. We've excluded countries or territories with populations of less than 500,000.

Now on to the countdown of the 25 most expensive locations, ranked from least to most pricey when it comes to the cost of living...

The world’s most expensive countries to live in 2026