By Mark Caswell

Published 11th September 2026

While New York and London remain expensive, currency fluctuations are making cities like Tokyo more affordable and Sydney costlier for international workers.

Global mobility firm ECA has released its latest Cost of Living Report, detailing how currency swings and local inflation are altering the true cost of working abroad this year.

ECA’s analysis compares living costs across 208 locations worldwide using a shopping basket of goods and services, including everyday essentials such as bread and eggs, which is priced in each location to allow like-for-like comparisons.

The basket reflects typical expatriate spending patterns, so a city’s ranking shows how expensive it is for an international assignee rather than a local resident.

Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, recorded the biggest rise in the rankings, moving from 45th to 19th most expensive city for those assigned internationally.

ECA said that strong mineral export earnings – particularly from copper – had supported a stronger Congolese franc, while an 11% rise in accommodation costs had also helped push the DRC’s capital up the list.

Meanwhile the Australian cities of Sydney, Canberra and Perth have also risen in the Cost of Living rankings. Factors include a stronger Australian dollar, and rising local prices and housing rental costs. Sydney has now sneaked into the top 30 (28th) of most expensive cities for expats, up 14 places on the previous year.

These shifting costs are putting added pressure on corporate relocation allowances and worker take-home pay.

Moving in the opposite direction, however, is Tokyo, which has fallen 19 places and out of the top 30 as a result of a weak yen. While this makes Japanese assignments cheaper for international employers funding packages, it can reduce the overseas spending power of locally paid staff.

“Tokyo hasn’t suddenly become cheap, but it has become more affordable for visitors and expats,” explained Steven Kilfedder, head of product analytics at ECA.

“Costs there are still rising in yen terms, but the yen has weakened enough to more than offset those increases for many international employers. The same apartment or weekly shop can cost more locally while costing less once translated back into pounds, euros or dollars.”