Most Expensive Cities in Asia

Ranking of cities by overall cost of living index. Index of 100 = New York City.

Top 5 Ranked

Singapore

24% more expensive

Tel Aviv-Yafo

9% cheaper

Ramat Gan

21% cheaper

4 Netanya

5 Beersheba

Singapore

24% more expensive

Tel Aviv-Yafo

9% cheaper

Ramat Gan

21% cheaper

4 Netanya 26% cheaper

5 Beersheba 28% cheaper

Overview

This ranking uses a weighted cost index calculated from user-contributed price data across 7 categories. For each city, we compute the average price in each category and compare it to New York City (baseline = 100). A score below 100 means cheaper; above 100 means more expensive.

Housing (35%): Rent, utilities, and accommodation costs

Groceries (20%): Food, beverages, and household supplies

Transportation (15%): Public transit, fuel, and vehicle costs

Dining (10%): Restaurants, cafes, and takeout meals

Entertainment (8%): Leisure activities, movies, and sports

Clothing (7%): Apparel, footwear, and accessories

Childcare (5%): Daycare, babysitting, and child-related services

City Rankings

Rank	City	Overall	Housing	Groceries	Transport	Dining	Entertain	Clothing	Childcare
1	Singapore Singapore	124	67	70	443	49	84	97	46
2	Tel Aviv-Yafo Israel	91	53	83	159	112	89	152	51
3	Ramat Gan Israel	79	38	75	162	102	65	126	47
4	Netanya Israel	74	38	66	162	99	68	76	40
5	Beersheba Israel	72	20	73	162	101	66	142	5
6	Hong Kong Hong Kong	69	52	74	126	36	75	81	37
7	Fethiye Turkey	59	17	37	186	50	46	113	13
8	Dubai United Arab Emirates	58	53	47	77	52	80	85	29
9	Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates	55	46	47	84	40	76	87	24
10	Kuala Belait Brunei	55	20	65	117	35	66	106	15
11	Moscow Russia	54	31	42	109	44	36	130	42
12	Istanbul Turkey	53	22	34	143	50	54	75	42
13	Seoul South Korea	50	21	82	83	39	45	64	38
14	Mecca Saudi Arabia	50	12	37	180	26	58	43	27
15	Ankara Turkey	50	18	34	137	46	52	79	32
16	Jeddah (Jiddah) Saudi Arabia	50	19	38	135	33	58	85	27
17	Riyadh Saudi Arabia	49	28	47	97	36	66	83	17
18	Yerevan Armenia	48	21	39	98	51	51	123	17
19	Taipei Taiwan	47	20	69	94	25	34	77	27
20	Daejeon South Korea	45	10	82	79	31	31	80	34
21	Incheon South Korea	44	14	76	83	31	31	64	28
22	HsinChu Taiwan	43	10	70	94	21	40	72	27
23	Suwon South Korea	43	12	72	79	33	37	73	29
24	Ipoh Malaysia	43	9	40	156	19	22	58	21
25	Saint Petersburg Russia	43	16	36	99	42	31	104	28
26	Tokyo Japan	43	27	59	61	32	51	59	30
27	Antalya Turkey	43	15	31	120	45	41	65	29
28	Rayong Thailand	43	10	43	117	22	46	84	27
29	Izmir Turkey	42	14	32	116	44	46	67	24
30	Kuala Lumpur Malaysia	42	13	42	117	23	37	77	21
31	Al Ain United Arab Emirates	42	22	44	84	37	51	69	13
32	Tyumen Russia	42	14	33	95	39	42	126	6
33	Gyumri Armenia	42	11	32	131	44	28	67	16
34	Almaty Kazakhstan	42	18	43	63	51	49	111	20
35	Tainan Taiwan	41	7	68	94	21	36	77	9
36	Bangkok Thailand	40	14	46	88	23	43	84	27
37	Chiba Japan	40	18	52	80	27	41	62	16
38	Ko Phan Ghan Thailand	40	16	40	98	27	40	72	10
39	Amman Jordan	40	11	36	99	32	45	94	16
40	Selangor Malaysia	40	12	40	117	20	32	71	11
41	Tbilisi Georgia	40	15	38	70	47	45	101	17
42	Nakhon Ratchasima Thailand	38	6	36	128	21	33	59	22
43	Muscat Oman	38	17	41	72	30	55	72	17
44	Kayseri Turkey	38	9	27	120	33	39	66	12
45	Seremban Malaysia	38	5	45	117	18	46	61	7
46	Shah Alam Malaysia	38	9	42	117	19	32	61	7
47	Kobe Japan	38	16	70	57	30	37	49	10
48	George Town Malaysia	38	12	36	117	19	31	61	8
49	Klang Malaysia	38	10	33	117	20	34	63	17
50	Juffair Bahrain	38	23	35	77	29	44	54	18
51	Sochi Russia	38	16	29	88	40	26	99	1
52	Adapazari Turkey	38	10	25	120	32	30	62	24
53	Astana Kazakhstan	37	13	37	69	43	39	95	19
54	Islamabad Pakistan	37	6	19	152	20	23	51	8
55	Puchong Malaysia	37	2	40	117	21	27	76	19
56	Tehran Iran	37	9	20	140	21	18	67	4
57	Shanghai China	36	21	38	54	22	47	71	45
58	Melaka Malaysia	36	4	44	117	20	20	65	7
59	Koh Samui Thailand	36	17	42	75	30	31	66	13
60	Saitama Japan	36	10	50	80	25	47	47	24
61	Putrajaya Malaysia	36	8	34	117	20	29	62	8
62	Cyberjaya (Selangor) Malaysia	36	9	31	114	18	37	65	4
63	Aydin Turkey	36	8	27	116	33	22	67	11
64	Karaj Iran	36	10	18	140	21	16	59	1
65	Colombo Sri Lanka	35	12	44	104	26	19	41	2
66	Fujairah United Arab Emirates	35	16	41	73	35	44	45	7
67	Ubud Indonesia	35	13	42	91	16	35	57	9
68	Changchun China	35	7	56	73	19	29	65	35
69	Beijing China	35	19	36	55	22	33	84	39
70	Rostov-na-donu Russia	35	15	30	81	37	25	80	1
71	Bishkek Kyrgyzstan	35	14	28	84	29	37	73	13
72	Yaroslavl Russia	35	8	30	99	30	21	84	6
73	Batumi (Ajara) Georgia	34	12	36	45	51	42	101	5
74	Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam	34	12	34	86	15	19	71	37
75	Chelyabinsk Russia	34	10	31	99	32	24	57	6
76	Shenzhen China	34	16	41	54	21	37	68	38
77	Baku Azerbaijan	34	12	28	66	39	35	95	11
78	Taguig City Philippines	32	13	35	80	17	30	51	14
79	Hanoi Vietnam	32	10	31	86	15	19	62	44
80	Guangzhou China	32	11	40	54	19	47	63	40
81	Kobuleti Georgia	32	10	36	45	47	36	96	5
82	Irbid Jordan	32	6	26	100	25	31	53	6
83	Tashkent Uzbekistan	31	13	30	48	27	43	94	15
84	Hiroshima Japan	30	7	45	61	26	42	43	6
85	Jakarta Indonesia	30	8	34	78	14	21	69	13
86	Pasig Philippines	30	8	37	80	16	24	49	14
87	Dongguan China	30	8	40	54	18	38	52	38
88	Hai Phong Vietnam	29	7	31	86	14	18	60	7
89	Angeles Philippines	28	9	30	80	14	23	43	12
90	Chiang Rai Thailand	27	6	35	58	18	26	59	24
91	Wenzhou China	27	6	28	73	23	16	53	17
92	Fuzhou China	27	9	27	54	19	31	64	19
93	Huizhou China	27	6	30	54	17	30	63	34
94	Nanchang China	26	5	36	54	17	31	54	27
95	Zhuhai China	26	10	20	44	18	54	61	38
96	Batangas Philippines	25	4	35	80	11	17	35	2
97	Bekasi Indonesia	25	5	33	60	14	15	69	13
98	Kathmandu Nepal	25	4	23	82	22	18	37	9
99	Changzhou China	25	7	29	48	17	29	59	24
100	Cagayan de Oro City Philippines	25	9	33	59	17	18	36	4
101	Dhaka Bangladesh	24	3	25	83	16	17	33	4
102	Tangerang Indonesia	24	7	29	60	11	15	56	13
103	Malang Indonesia	23	3	27	71	10	13	43	15
104	Semarang Indonesia	23	6	25	70	11	15	42	3
105	Sylhet Bangladesh	23	3	25	83	15	13	26	2
106	Mumbai India	23	13	20	45	21	23	47	8
107	Rajshahi Bangladesh	21	2	25	83	9	11	18	1
108	Gurgaon India	20	7	20	41	20	25	42	10
109	Lahore Pakistan	19	5	18	51	19	20	40	3
110	Karachi Pakistan	19	4	18	51	17	18	39	3
111	Pune India	19	6	22	38	21	20	37	4
112	Bangalore India	18	6	21	35	17	18	40	5
113	Hyderabad India	18	5	21	42	17	20	31	4
114	Nellore India	18	6	17	58	13	13	20	2
115	Ahmedabad India	17	4	21	35	21	16	34	2
116	Kolkata India	17	4	20	44	14	15	30	3
117	Gandhinagar India	17	4	20	45	15	9	33	1
118	Chennai India	17	4	21	44	14	13	27	3
119	Delhi India	16	6	18	29	16	19	39	4
120	Tirupur India	16	4	16	44	10	15	39	1
121	Ernakulam India	16	3	18	46	12	12	26	3
122	Bikaner India	16	1	16	54	15	13	19	2
123	Warangal India	15	2	17	44	12	16	29	3
124	Asansol India	15	2	18	44	12	12	28	2
125	Salem India	15	3	17	42	13	16	24	3
126	Kalyan India	15	4	18	33	16	13	31	2
127	Amritsar India	15	2	16	35	13	23	39	1
128	Bharuch (Gujarat) India	15	5	16	39	12	14	22	1
129	Kota India	15	3	15	44	11	11	29	1
130	Guntur India	15	2	16	41	13	12	27	4
131	Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu) India	14	2	16	44	10	12	24	1
132	Pondicherry India	14	4	16	30	16	10	35	2
133	Muzaffarpur India	14	2	15	38	11	18	31	1
134	Hosur India	13	2	15	34	12	18	21	2
135	Varanasi India	13	2	13	35	11	12	29	2
136	Allahabad India	13	3	15	35	10	13	21	1
137	Udaipur India	13	3	15	29	13	14	24	3
138	Gorakhpur India	12	2	14	38	12	11	18	1
139	Dhanbad India	12	2	14	31	11	12	30	2
140	Jabalpur India	12	2	14	29	13	11	25	2
141	Anand India	12	2	16	32	9	11	21	1
142	Meerut India	12	3	13	23	13	12	33	2
143	Jodhpur India	12	3	15	23	13	12	27	3
144	Gwalior India	11	3	14	26	11	12	26	1
145	Durgapur India	11	2	13	22	14	11	23	2
146	Vellore India	10	1	13	28	8	9	19	3

Index value of 100 = New York City. Lower values indicate cheaper cost of living.

Asia Cost Heatmap

Interactive map showing the most expensive cities in Asia. Larger, redder circles indicate higher cost of living.

Lower cost

Medium cost

Higher cost

Understanding City Cost Differences

City costs are shaped by real estate markets, local wages, and demand for urban amenities. Global cities with strong economies and international appeal tend to be more expensive. Transportation costs vary based on car dependency versus public transit availability. Dining and entertainment costs reflect local wages and tourism demand. Comparing city costs helps with career decisions, retirement planning, and lifestyle choices.

Source: User-contributed price data. Rankings are based on the weighted average of category indices.

Last updated: October 2026

Continue Reading

Cost of Living Index by Country

Compare cost of living index across 100+ countries. Ranked by housing, groceries, transportation & more.

View ranking

Cost of Living Index by US State

Compare cost of living index across all 50 US states. See which states are most and least expensive for housing, groceries & more.

View ranking

Cost of Living Index by City

Compare cost of living index for cities worldwide. Find the most and least expensive cities ranked by housing, food, transport & more.

View ranking

Most Expensive Cities in the US

Ranked list of the most expensive US cities to live in. Cost of living index comparing housing, groceries, transportation & more.

View ranking

Most Expensive Cities in North America

Ranked list of the most expensive cities in North America. Compare cost of living index for US, Canada & Mexico cities.

View ranking

Most Expensive Cities in Europe

Ranked list of the most expensive European cities to live in. Cost of living index comparing Zurich, London, Paris & more.

View ranking

Nice to see you!

Most Expensive Cities in Asia

Top 5 Ranked

Singapore

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Ramat Gan

Singapore

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Ramat Gan

Overview

City Rankings

Asia Cost Heatmap

Understanding City Cost Differences

Continue Reading

Cost of Living Index by Country

Cost of Living Index by US State

Cost of Living Index by City

Most Expensive Cities in the US

Most Expensive Cities in North America

Most Expensive Cities in Europe