This Island in the Atlantic Is Home to the World's Most Expensive Place to Live

Although glittering visions of New York City, Monaco or Dubai may come to mind when imagining the world’s most expensive places, an island destination was just named the most expensive city in which to live.

The coastal capital of Hamilton, Bermuda, has the highest cost of living in the world, according to Numbeo’s mid-year Cost of Living Index.

According to the ranking, Hamilton has the world’s highest prices on necessities like transportation, groceries, meals, and utilities. The Bermuda capital also ranked as having the most expensive restaurants in the world.

With a population of just over 1,000 people, Hamilton is one of the world’s smallest capital cities. However, its status as a tax haven and tourist destination have ballooned the cost of living.

The remainder of the top 10 most expensive cities are to be expected. San Francisco and New York came in second place for cost of living, including rent. Reykjavik in Iceland, and Brooklyn, New York, ranked eighth and ninth, respectively. Five cities in Switzerland — Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Lausanne and Lugano — rounded out the top 10 most expensive places to live.

On the opposite end of the ranking, cities in India took the top 13 spots for least expensive places to live.

While Hamilton is certainly expensive, it's worth noting that the city is not unanimously recognized as the most expensive place on the planet. This week, the consulting firm Mercer also released the results of their annual Cost of Living Survey. Their ranking, which gauged the price of 200 different categories like food and rent, found that Hong Kong is the most expensive place for expats to take up residence.

And earlier this year, the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey named Singapore the most expensive city in the world for the fifth year in a row.