Zurich too pricey? Then try LA for affordability

ZURICH — The Swiss financial hub of Zurich remains the world's most expensive major city and Egypt's capital Cairo the cheapest, the annual rankings of 77 metropolitan areas by Swiss bank UBS found on Tuesday.

But Los Angeles features the world's best buying power for the average worker's salary, with Angelenos able to afford almost a quarter more than New Yorkers, according to the study, which uses New York as the basis for comparisons.

Still, when factoring the high salaries many Zurich residents enjoy, the Swiss lakeside city came second to the Californian metropolis in purchasing power, with New York tenth. London was 23rd.

In a subset of data for 11 big cities, UBS looked at where millennials would be best off to buy a package of typical must-have goods including an Apple iPhone, a laptop, and a Netflix subscription. Expensive Hong Kong was the surprise winner.

A couple looking for a Friday night out with a meal, bottle of wine and a movie will pay the most in Tokyo, New York and Stockholm, while the best values were in Prague, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro.

MANILA DATA

In terms of price levels, Manila placed 74th on the ranking of 77 cities, with only three cities—Kiev, Lagos, and Cairo—being less pricey to live in. It consistently ranked near the bottom price-wise for each item in the survey's "basket of goods and services" (city breaks, food, home electronics, household appliances, housing, men's clothing, public transport, services, and women's clothing).

In terms of earning levels (gross and net hourly wages in 15 different professions, including how many days of vacation the workers receive, and how much they need to spend on taxes and social contributions), Manila ranks 69th. It also offers only 14.1 vacation days per year, compared to the category's top scorer Riyadh (37 days).

In terms of buying power (the purchasing power of net hourly wages: how many "baskets" a resident can buy annually), Manila ranks 60th overall, and 8th among 13 Asian cities on the list.

In terms of working time (the average price across all sources for each good and service and divided it by the net hourly wage of 15 professions in the survey), Manila ranks 68th, with a resident needing to work 61.9 minutes to earn a Big Mac and 445.3 hours to earn an iPad or iPhone—compared to the top city in the category, Hong Kong, where residents work 11.8 minutes to earn a Big Mac and 75.3 hours to earn an iPad or iPhone. — Reuters