New York City is Officially the World's Most Expensive City

The City That Never Sleeps reigns as the top tourist destination.Photo by(Karen Arnold/publicdomainpictures.net)

For the first time ever, NYC has officially become the world's most expensive city

New York City — "Take a bite out of the Big Apple," a comedian joked, "but that apple'll cost you $5, first." And such goes the hefty price of living in The City That Never Sleeps.

Due to the city's economic recovery in the wake of COVID, rent prices have soared to an all-time high.

According to a report from the real estate firm Douglas Elliman, the average price of Manhattan apartments "shot up by 25 percent in 2022 with the average monthly rent in the borough reaching around $5,000."  

New York City now shares the top spot — for the world's most expensive cities — with Singapore.

According to Upasana Dutt, head of worldwide cost of living at EIU, "The war in Ukraine, Western sanctions on Russia and China’s zero-covid policies have caused supply-chain problems that, combined with rising interest rates and exchange-rate shifts, have resulted in a cost-of-living crisis across the world.”

For many a New Yorker, however, not even the heftiest price tag in the world can dim the City of Lights.

"The true New Yorker," said Updike, "secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding."

Despite the smug tone, Updike was merely highlighting why Wikipedia describes the City That Never Sleeps as follows:

New York City is a global cultural, financial, and media center [...] and is sometimes described as the capital of the world.

NYC is the most photographed city in history. Yet being the so-called "capital" of the world comes at the steep price of — requires spending the most capital in the world.

"Manhattan monthly rent tops $5K," reads the incredible headline.

In short, perhaps topping the list as the world's most expensive city gives new meaning to the moniker — "City That Never Sleeps."