Reports
Citable, sourced data on global cost of living. Free to reference with attribution.
Anchor Cost Index 2026
160 cities · 104 countries · snapshot as of Feb 7, 2026
160
Cities tracked
104
Countries
Maputo
Cheapest overall (index 1)
Zurich
Priciest overall (index 99)
Regional Averages
Average Anchor Cost Index by region, most to least expensive.
| Region | Cities | Avg. index |
|---|---|---|
| North America | 14 | 86 (Very Expensive) |
| Western Europe | 15 | 84 (Very Expensive) |
| Oceania | 8 | 77 (Expensive) |
| Europe | 9 | 65 (Expensive) |
| Middle East | 11 | 60 (Expensive) |
| Southern Europe | 8 | 60 (Expensive) |
| East Asia | 17 | 47 (Moderate) |
| Central Asia | 3 | 41 (Moderate) |
| Eastern Europe | 10 | 39 (Affordable) |
| South America | 14 | 35 (Affordable) |
| Central America | 8 | 31 (Affordable) |
| Southeast Asia | 15 | 25 (Affordable) |
| Africa | 18 | 15 (Very Affordable) |
| South Asia | 10 | 10 (Very Affordable) |
Anchor Price Medians
Global median price and extremes for each of our five anchor items.
| Anchor | Global median |
|---|---|
| 🏠 1BR Rent, City Center | $683.00 |
| 🍔 Big Mac | $4.10 |
| 🚗 Uber, 5km Ride | $3.50 |
| ☕ Starbucks Tall Latte | $3.70 |
| 📺 YouTube Premium | $6.99 |
About This Report
This is our first Anchor Cost Index report, built directly from the 160-city dataset that powers the rest of the site — 40 cities (25%) use GDP-PPP-based estimates rather than directly observed prices, marked “Estimated” throughout.
We're starting a monthly snapshot archive from August 2026 onward. As snapshots accumulate, future editions of this report will show real month-over-month movement instead of a single point-in-time read. We won't claim a time series before we have one.
Data licensed CC BY 4.0 — free to cite with a link back to worldcostofliving.com/reports. See our methodology for sources and limitations.
More data resources
Prices are a dated snapshot (Feb 7, 2026), not live pricing.