Kingston one of the most affordable Caribbean cities for expats
While many Jamaicans may complain about the cost of living, Kingston is ranked as one of the more affordable global cities for expatriates and one of the least costly in the region, according to a Cost of Living survey by Mercer.
From the list of 209 cities on the Cost of Living Survey 2018, where the most expensive city is listed as Hong Kong and Tashkent in Uzbekistan is ranked last at 209, Jamaica’s capital is ranked at 164.
That places it just below Istanbul in Turkey at 163 and just above Havana, Cuba, as well as Harare, Zimbabwe, and Rabat in Morroco each at 165.
The only other Caribbean city to rank as more affordable than Kingston is Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic at 178. The lowest regional city was Managua, Nicaragua, ranked at 200.
Expats will have to pay more to live in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which is ranked at 125, and even more for Port-of-Spain in Trinidad, ranked at 97, and San Juan, Purto Rico at 95. In nearby Central America, Panama City is ranked at 114 and San Jose, Costa Rica, at 141.
Meanwhile, other cities that are popular for Jamaican expatriates are also more costly to live in than Kingston, including: Toronto at 110, Atlanta at 95, Miami ranked 60, London ranked at 19, and New York at 13.
The most expensive African city is Luanda in Angola. Last year it was ranked as the most costly in the world, but this year it has fallen to sixth place behind Hong Kong, Tokyo, Zurich, Singapore, and Seoul.
Several other African cities also rank as more costly than Kingston, including Port Louis in Mauritius at 161, Lagos in Nigeria at 42 and N’Djamena in Chad at 8.
The 2018 survey looks at 209 cities and the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including: housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment.
