Aerial view of the urban skyline of San Francisco, California.
San Francisco is one of three U.S. cities ranked as the most expensive in the world amid rising inflation and cost of living, according to a new report by the Economist Intelligencer Unit.
Californians are all too familiar with the high price of living, especially in the Bay Area.
San Francisco is accompanied by Los Angeles and New York, which rank no. 4 and no. 1 on the list, respectively.
The Bay Area city places eighth on the list of metro areas with the highest cost of living on earth.
Data from the Economist shows prices have increased over 8% in the past year across the biggest cities in the world.
This marks the fastest growth rate in at least 20 years, the data shows.
New York took the no. 1 spot on the expensive cities list for the first time, breaking even with the city-state of Singapore.
Other cities on the list include Tel Aviv, Hong Kong and Paris.
Inflation and currency are the two primary factors in the Economist Intelligencer’s ranking.
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“A stronger currency will tend to see a city rise in the rankings, as prices are higher when expressed in international common currency,” the report said.
Though just three American cities topped the ranking, several others made big jumps on the list over the past year.
This includes Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Indianapolis, San Diego, Portland, Ore. and Boston.
San Diego ranks as the 17th most expensive city in the world, the data shows.
"All 22 of the US cities in the WCOL survey rose up the rankings amid rapid price rises and a strong dollar," the Economist Intelligencer said." Six of these (Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Indianapolis, San Diego, Portland, Ore. and Boston) were among the ten cities showing the biggest jumps up the rankings.
Among the cheapest cities in the world — Damascus, Syria, Tripoli, Libya and Tehran, Iran, according to the research
No U.S. cities made the list of cheapest 10 cities.
The Economist Intelligencer's report analyzes 400 prices across 200 products and services in 172 cities worldwide.
The survey occurs twice per year for the report, which is released in June and December.
