3 US cities made the list of the world's top 10 most expensive places to live, report says

• The Economist Intelligence Unit has published its Worldwide Cost of Living report.
• New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco all made it into the world's top 10 most expensive cities.

Three US cities have made it into the top 10 most expensive cities in the world in the latest Worldwide Cost of Living report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

New York, which shared the top spot last year with Singapore, came in third in the new list, while Singapore retained its place at the top, joined by Zurich, Switzerland.

Los Angeles and San Francisco, both badly hit by the country's housing crisis, came in at sixth and 10th respectively.

Although three US cities made the top 10, on average North American cities fell in the rankings compared to the previous year.

The survey, which was carried out from August 14 to September 11 this year, compared "400 individual prices across 200 products and services in 173 cities."

It found that overall, prices in the world's major cities rose by an average of 7.4% over the past year, down from 8.1% the previous year, but far higher than the average of 2.9% in the five years prior.

The US's most recent Consumer Price Index showed a 3.2% year-over-year rise for October.

Western European cities filled around half of the top 20 spots in the index, largely due to rising interest rates and higher prices.

Four Chinese cities, including Beijing, were among the 10 biggest fallers in the ranking, as the renminbi has depreciated and the country's decades-long run of growth came to an end amid a slow post-pandemic economic recovery. The country is also facing a property market crisis.

But it was Moscow and St Petersburg that saw the biggest drop in the rankings, as Western sanctions caused the rouble to collapse against the dollar.

The Russian capital finished up 105 places lower in 142nd, while St Petersburg dropped 74 places to 147th.

The world's cheapest cities included Damascus, Syria; Tehran, Iran; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Chennai, India.