Rio de Janeiro higher living cost than New York

Last month, the British agency Employment Conditions abroad published the 2010 report of the most expensive cities in the world for expats.
The study found that RIo de janeiro is now the most expensive city on the American continent, yes, more expensive than New York even.  In 2009 Rio ranked on the 132th place, today it is on 28, New York stands on 29.

And also, the study is not comprehensive and targeted to expats.  It includes food, (groceries and eating out), drinks, tobaco, services, clothing, electrical goods and “motoring”.  It does not include accomodation, car purchase or school fees.  This explains why also Brussels went up in the ranking (from 35 to 25).

But the study reflects a reality. The rise for Brazilian commodities and the strong real play an important part in this.  And as Adage reported last month: Brazil’s emerging lower middle class fires up marketers in Brazil

But it does reflect a reality that prices in Rio are outrageously high, and have been for some time (I’ve been writing about this for awhile). Interestingly, though, Rio and New York were right next to each other on the list – Rio as the 28th most expensive city and New York (Manhattan) as the 29th.

To see the complete ranking of all cities, click here.

Read also this article in Forbes and this article in Business Week.