Some of you know by now that the timeline for my dissertation research has changed and I’ll be relocating to Turkey this June for 15 months. This all happened rather suddenly and while my wife and I are excited about the move, living in Istanbul again will be a dramatic change from the peace and quiet of Princeton.
One thing I didn’t appreciate until recently is how expensive Istanbul has become. According to worldwide rankings in Mercer’s 2006 Cost of Living Survey [.pdf], Istanbul is the 15th most expensive city in the world. It’s tied with Paris and beats out Vienna, Rome, L.A., and San Francisco.
And what do you get for all that dough? According to Mercer’s 2007 Quality of Living Survey [.pdf], Istanbul ranks 121st in the world. To repeat: 15th most expensive; 121st in terms of quality of living.
Can you find a worse deal anywhere else in the world?
Of course the major caveat here is that Mercer is a human resources consulting firm in the business of estimating cost of living for expats managing MNCs. I can just imagine the “basket of goods” they use to standardize comparisons across countries: private garage, driver, nanny, housekeeper, monogrammed cloth napkins, heated towel rack, etc…
So yes, if you want to live like that in Istanbul, you’re going to pay a pretty price. We have humbler aspirations, so I’m not as worried.
2 comments ↓
I didn’t know your timetable had moved up. Sounds exciting! I’m curious of Istabul’s ranking in terms of per capita income, another stat that would probably appall us all.
I’m not sure of the ranking, but I’ve seen figures putting per capita between $5000-$7000.
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