Bloomberg BusinessWeek released its World’s Most Expensive Cities 2018 list on Thursday, and the status quo has not yet changed. The report found that the priciest city in the world is unsurprisingly, Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s ranking was cemented because it has the world’s second-lowest cost of living. Vancouver ranked number one because its taxes are relatively low and its labor force is relatively well-educated.
Singapore and Zurich came in at number three and four, respectively. The two other cities ranked in the top 10 are Tokyo, New York, London, Singapore, and Sydney. No American cities made the list.
Washington made the news in May 2010 for its high cost of living, but it was never considered the world’s most expensive city. It is ranked eighth out of 197 cities in the world. According to the Bloomberg report, the average cost of living in D.C. is $43,476, which is the eighth-highest in the world.
Still, “By its Amazonian status, Washington is the 10th-most expensive city in the world, and its distance from a major metropolitan area bodes well for its affordability” Bloomberg’s Philip Hudson notes.
The last time the nation’s capital was featured in the annual list was in 2004, when it was ninth most expensive city in the world. Although Washington’s ranking has gone up since, it has remained relatively static since 2005, ranking tenth.
The most expensive city in Canada, Tokyo, was ranked third in the previous list, having been ranked first in the previous report in 2014. The South Korea capital, Seoul, dropped to sixth place.
The 2017 list of the world’s most expensive cities is available here.