Where are the top 20 most affordable places to live in terms of buying power, rent cost, groceries and restaurant prices? On the worldwide index Johannesburg perfoms the best of all South African cities in terms of cost of living, and it is ranked number 323. Pretoria is hot on its heels in 325th place, Durban at 334 and Cape Town in 344th place out of 483 cities.
Sydney is the top performer in Australia at 28th place, followed by Brisbane (36), Melbourne (52) and Perth (55). Auckland in New Zealand is number 31, followed by Wellington (44), Hamilton (56) and Christchurch (71). Nice in France boasts 33th place. Israel also fares very well in the top 50 with Tel Aviv-Yafo (21), Petah Tikva (27), Haifa (32), Beersheba (35) and Jerusalem (40).
In England London ranks highest in 43rd place. The top 20 places are however dominated by Switzerland, Norway and the USA:
| Cost of living – top 20 cities | Cost of living – top 20 countries |
| 1. Hamilton, Bermuda | 1. Bermuda |
| 2. Basel, Switzerland | 2. Switzerland |
| 3. Zurich, Switzerland | 3. Norway |
| 4. Lausanne, Switzerland | 4. Iceland |
| 5. Bern, Switzerland | 5. Barbados |
| 6. Geneva, Switzerland | 6. Jersey |
| 7. Beirut, Lebanon | 7. Israel |
| 8. Stavanger, Norway | 8. Denmark |
| 9. Honolulu, USA | 9. Bahamas |
| 10. Oslo, Norway | 10. Singapore |
| 11. Santa Barbara, USA | 11. Guernsey |
| 12. New York, USA | 12. Hong Kong |
| 13. Bergen, Norway | 13. Luxembourg |
| 14. Reykjavik, Iceland | 14. Australia |
| 15. Trondheim, Norway | 15. Japan |
| 16. San Francisco, USA | 16. Ireland |
| 17. Tromso, Norway | 17. The Netherlands |
| 18. Oakland, USA | 18. New Zealand |
| 19. Berkeley, USA | 19. France |
| 20. Saint Helier, Jersey | 20. South Korea |
Quality of life – top 20
Quality of life rankings are determined by the cost of life, quality of health care, safety and crime, buying power, property prices versus income, traffic, and climate. Cape Town is highest on the list for South African cities and is ranked at 137, while Durban is in 143rd place and Pretoria 155th out of 250 cities around the world. Here are the top twenty cities in the world in terms of quality of life:
| Quality of life – top 20 cities | Quality of life – top 20 countries |
| 1. Canberra, Australia | 1. Switzerland |
| 2. Adelaide, Australia | 2. Denmark |
| 3. Raleigh, USA | 3. The Netherlands |
| 4. Charlotte, USA | 4. Finland |
| 5. Zurich, Switzerland | 5. Australia |
| 6. Perth, Australia | 6. Iceland |
| 7. Basel, Switzerland | 7. Germany |
| 8. Austin, USA | 8. Austria |
| 9. Eindhoven, The Netherlands | 9. New Zealand |
| 10. Wellington, New Zealand | 10. Norway |
| 11. Victoria, Canada | 11. Sweden |
| 12. Seattle, USA | 12. Estonia |
| 13. Madison, USA | 13. Oman |
| 14. Colombus, USA | 14. Luxembourg |
| 15. Geneva, Switzerland | 15. USA |
| 16. Brisbane, Australia | 16. Japan |
| 17. Richmond, USA | 17. Slovenia |
| 18. The Hague, Netherlands | 18. Spain |
| 19. Dallas, USA | 19. Czech Republic |
| 20. Oklahoma, USA | 20. Portugal |
All information in this article was sourced from numbeo.com as in April 2022.
Also read: Cost of living abroad
