We recently covered the most affordable cities to live in the US and the results were intriguing enough for us to seriously consider ditching our respective states for a life in the spacious and booming Midwest. But all that talk of affordability got us wondering (and worrying) about the most expensive cities in America.
Thanks to the annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, we now know the 10 most expensive cities to live in worldwide. The study analyzed over 309 housing markets and 91 major markets with populations that exceeded 1 million and divided the median house price by the median income — known as the mean multiple approach — using data culled from the third quarter of 2018. The survey contends that while housing prices in the most unaffordable markets have seen some moderation in the last year, prices haven’t sufficiently declined enough to be considered affordable. In terms of shocking revelations though it seems like the American market is struggling, barely breaking into the top of five of this list with Hong Kong, Vancouver, and Sydney taking the top three spots and America landing fifth with… Santa Cruz?
It makes sense, the beach town has certainly morphed from hippie to upscale. We figured San Francisco or New York City would easily hold the crown of the least affordable American city, but NYC didn’t even make the top 10 and San Francisco was beat out by San Jose, Santa Cruz, and Los Angeles. Does this signal a change in the cultural center of America? Probably not, but it’s looking like California continues to become more and more unaffordable as the years go on.
Check out the 10 most expensive cities to live in worldwide and be sure to check out Demographia’s full survey for more insight into the affordability of cities in America and elsewhere.
10. San Francisco, California
9. Auckland, New Zealand
8.Tauranga-Western Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
7. Los Angeles, California
6. San Jose, California
5. Santa Cruz, California
4. Melbourne, Australia
3. Sydney, Australia
2. Vancouver, Canada
1. Hong Kong, China
