Top 10 Cheapest Cities for Expats
Not too long ago, we posted a guide to the top 10 most expensive cities for expats, calculated via the Mercer Cost of Living Survey. Well that was before discovering the incredibly handy Xpatulator: The Expatriate Calculator, an online service which calculates the cost of living abroad specifically for the expat. How great is that?
After tinkering around on it for a bit, it was clear that the logical next step would be to offer a guide to the top 10 cheapest cities in the world for expats.
Here’s how the following rankings work. Next to each location on the list will be a number in parentheses. That number represents the USD cost of goods and services in that city relative to the cost of the same $100 USD worth of goods and services here at home. Got it?
The site calculates the cost of living from a diverse range of 276 cities worldwide. You might be surprised how cheap it can still be in some places to live abroad! Here’s the list:
10. Tashkent, Uzbekistan (56.06)
9. Asmara, Eritrea (54.49)
8. La Paz, Bolivia (53.54)
7. Buenos Aires, Argentina (53.25)
6. Quito, Ecuador (53.23)
5. Tripoli, Libya (53.22)
4. Dushanbe, Tajikistan (51.24)
3. Sanaa, Yemen (44.95)
2. Phnom Penh, Cambodia (44.89)
1. Harare, Zimbabwe (16.44)
Something tells me that the cost of living in Tripoli will be increasing soon. Also, while the cost of living in Harare may be classified as low, exchanging for the currency and accounting for the inflation can be a nightmare!