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Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

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Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

#21

Post by eru »

jltsiren wrote: post #16
pstrateman wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salaries in the US are substantially higher then Canada. Switch to the purchasing power index to get a more clear view of the relative wealth of people in the countries.

Purchasing power can be misleading in countries with a top-heavy income distribution. Because cost of living calculations include everyday expenses but exclude most luxuries, average costs are close to what the typical consumer pays. But if the income distribution is skewed enough, average salaries can be much higher than what the typical consumer earns.

You can look at median salaries for that.

Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

#22

Post by Loocid »

ChumpGPT wrote: post #5
voisin wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that? What’s been happening on the ground?

Japan has always been a value. I don't understand why folks think it is expensive. Food is cheap, accommodations aren't expensive, transportation is affordable. The most expensive thing is airfare from the USA. I believe that they never fully recovered after Covid and tourism never bounced back. The YEN has also taken a beating so you can get more for your USD.

>I believe that they never fully recovered after Covid and tourism never bounced back.

Tourism bounced back as soon as they opened the borders. The 2023 numbers were at 2016/2017 level despite them not opening their borders until late 2022 (meaning lower ski-season numbers), and removing covid checks in April 2023.

Feb 2024 was reported as having 7% more tourists than Feb 2019 (2019 having peak tourism numbers).

There are a LOT of tourists at the moment.

Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

#23

Post by standardUser »

throwaway22032 wrote: post #17
standardUser wrote: post #12

When sorting by Rent Index, the US looks like a massive outlier at 45. Everywhere else over 40 is either a tiny island nation/territory or famously idiosyncratic (Switzerland, Iceland, UAE). The other Anglosphere giants, Canada and Australia, come in very high as well at 36. I would have expected the most desirable Western European nations to lead, but most of those are in the 20's. Those nations tend to have more re…

Canada, Australia and the US make up the top three countries for average home size by square footage. If people prioritise the size of their home more then it stands to reason that they'll pay more as a percentage of income.

Great point. Considering square footage, New Zealand looks like the outlier. Same average home size as the US but with a Rent Index of 29.

Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

#24

Post by glial »

eru wrote: post #14
glial wrote: post #9

The relative ranking of the US has changed drastically within the past decade. I wonder why. It seems like many factors that we blame for rising costs - inflation, supply-chain issues - would affect other countries as well.

Why would American inflation affect countries that don't use the USD?

The US is not the only country who has experienced high inflation since COVID.

Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

#25

Post by refurb »

jbm wrote: post #8

This anecdotally back ups what I was seeing when I visited the US. Groceries and food (in general) was surprisingly more expensive in New Hampshire and Vermont than Calgary where I live (which is not a low COL area in Canada). I cannot understand how American fruit costs more in the US than they did back home (when including the exchange rate). I was not visiting a premium grocery store (it was a Price Chopper near a…

> Groceries and food (in general) was surprisingly more expensive in New Hampshire and Vermont than Calgary

That doesn't seem that surprising? Where is the produce coming from? Typically California or Mexico. I could imagine the transport costs are lower to Calgary than Vermont.

It also depends on what stores - comparing mid-market to mid-market. Whole Foods in the US is way more expensive than Superstore in Canada.

And it also depends on the state. I almost always (there are exceptions) found US prices (New England, Midwest, and West Coast) to be the same or lower than Canada. Though the NE was the highest of all 3.

Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

#27

Post by tempsy »

standardUser wrote: post #12

When sorting by Rent Index, the US looks like a massive outlier at 45. Everywhere else over 40 is either a tiny island nation/territory or famously idiosyncratic (Switzerland, Iceland, UAE). The other Anglosphere giants, Canada and Australia, come in very high as well at 36. I would have expected the most desirable Western European nations to lead, but most of those are in the 20's. Those nations tend to have more re…

why would western europe lead when salaries are notoriously low even for corporate white collar work?

Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

#30

Post by mattmaroon »

refurb wrote: post #25
jbm wrote: post #8

This anecdotally back ups what I was seeing when I visited the US. Groceries and food (in general) was surprisingly more expensive in New Hampshire and Vermont than Calgary where I live (which is not a low COL area in Canada). I cannot understand how American fruit costs more in the US than they did back home (when including the exchange rate). I was not visiting a premium grocery store (it was a Price Chopper near a…

> Groceries and food (in general) was surprisingly more expensive in New Hampshire and Vermont than Calgary That doesn't seem that surprising? Where is the produce coming from? Typically California or Mexico. I could imagine the transport costs are lower to Calgary than Vermont. It also depends on what stores - comparing mid-market to mid-market. Whole Foods in the US is way more expensive than Superstore in Canada.…

The cost of food is almost entirely packaging/logistics.
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