1. 1
Y O U T H F U L C I T I E S
A F F O R D A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 1 5

2. 2 3
WHY AFFORDABILITY? - 3
INTRODUCTION - 4
OVERALL CITIES SCORE - 6
CITIES AS AFFORDABLE PLACES - 7
WHY WE’RE DIFFERENT - 8
YOUTH AFFORDABILITY SERIES - 9
COST OF A FAST FOOD MEAL - 10
MINIMUM WAGE - 11
COST OF 12 EGGS - 12
COST OF A TUBE OF TOOTHPASTE - 13
COST OF A GYM MEMBERSHIP - 14
STANDING RATE FOR A TAXI - 15
COST OF A MOVIE TICKET - 16
COST OF RENTAL HOUSING - 17
FINAL DATA - 18
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS - 22
ABOUT YOUTHFULCITIES - 23
C O N T E N T S
3
W H Y
A F F O R D A B I L I T Y ?
C I T I E S A R E O U R C O L L E C T I V E F U T U R E
Today’s young people are at the centre of building
Welcome to YouthfulCities. We are a global social
enterprise that illuminates and decodes the power
of urban youth. We’re a two-year old social startup
with big ambitions – to lead cities around the world
towards youthfulness. Our goal is to be the catalyst
for boosting prosperity and happiness for all citizens
of the world’s 100 biggest cities by 2025. It may be
bold, but we’re ready for the challenge. Over the last
three years we have been working with thousands of
youth in the world’s largest cities to uncover the best
places to live, work and play.
Civic leaders, policy makers, and municipal
strategists in cities around the world are beginning to
recognize youth as their city’s greatest assets. Youth
are now widely recognized to be the world’s largest
untapped resource — and the secret sauce to driving
a city’s competitive edge, stimulating development,
and finding new solutions to pressing urban problems.
The rich and comprehensive reservoir of youth-centric
knowledge we have helped gather is empowering
and engaging civic leaders to build better, connected,
dynamic, open, fun, curious, and inventive cities.
The YouthfulCities Index is a first-of-its-kind statistical
ranking of the world’s top cities from a youth
perspective. And Affordability is a critical issue.
Young people from around the world have told us
that affordability is among their top urban priorities.
Results from our Urban Attitudes Survey of 10,000+
global youth show it to be more important than
having access to education, having a great film/
music culture, and even having access to healthcare.
Keeping all the above in mind, we want to answer
the following:
I N W H I C H C I T Y D O A L L T H E A S P E C T S
O F A F F O R D A B I L I T Y F R O M A Y O U T H
P E R S P E C T I V E B E S T A L I G N ?
Read further and find out!
3

3. 4 5
This year Sydney has been
awarded the title of Most
Affordable City for Youth.
And like Paris last year,
Sydney is the city in this year’s
YouthfulCities Index with the
highest local minimum wage.
Most of the cities in the top five show up there because
of their relatively high minimum wages. Sydney is top
in both cases, Montreal has the 5th highest minimum,
San Francisco 4th and Berlin 3rd. Detroit’s high finish
in affordability is driven less by its minimum wage and
more-so by its affordable housing stock.
For more on how we integrated minimum wage
into our calculations check out our “Problems and
Solutions” on page 20.
The YouthfulCities Affordability Index draws attention
to the important role that minimum wage plays in
cities’ affordability and appeal to youth. Given this,
when thinking about the future of cities, mayors, policy
makers and employers should have a focus on high
minimum wage at the top of their urban to-do lists.
Read on to see visuals for select indicators. The
overall results for all cities are included at the end
of this report in the appendix.
2. Montreal
3. Detroit
4. San Francisco
5. Berlin
6. Tokyo
7. Boston
8. Osaka
9. Paris
10. Los Angeles
T H E M O S T
A F F O R D A B L E C I T Y F O R
Y O U N G P E O P L E I S . . .
SYDNEY

4. 766
Special Thanks To
EXPATISTAN
WWW.EXPATISTAN.COM
The collaborative, crowd-sourced international cost
of living index - We’d like to thank Expatistan for
providing us full and open access to cost of
living data in all our cities.
O V E R A L L A F F O R D A B I L I T Y I N D E X R A N K I N G
1. Sydney
1118.97
2. Montreal1082.84
3. Detroit
1074.59
4. San Francisco
1068.75
5. Berlin
1067.44
6. Tokyo
1065.09
7. Boston
1063.35
8. Osaka
1062/27
9. Paris
1060.60
10. Los Angeles
1057.79
11. Washington
1055.87
12. Dallas
1054.08
13. Toronto
1053.72
14. Miami
1051.99
15. Vancouver
1050.12
16. Chicago
1046.10
17. New York City
1042.52
18. Tel Aviv
1039.32
19. Tehran
1035.90
20. Seoul
1035.08
21. Amsterdam
1029.64
22. Madrid
1011.51
23. London
1010.32
24. Quito
1001.85
25. Rome
996.84
26. Hong Kong
995.19
27. Dubai
992.91
28. Shanghai
987.10
29. Lima
986.66
30. Singapore
986.57
31. Cairo
984.49
32. Jakarta
975.90
33. Warsaw
975.32
34. Buenos Aires
973.52
35. Casablanca
961.38
36. Bangkok
960.38
37. Manila
958.55
38. Istanbul
956.92
39. New Delhi
952.24
40. Santiago
944.33
41. Bogota
938.54
42. Durban
922.44
43. Karachi
915.97
44. Nairobi
908.72
45. Johannesburg
900.43
46. Sao Paulo
900.33
47. Rio de Janeiro
898.66
48. Moscow
881.42
49. Lagos
877.87
50. Beirut
859.84
51. Mexico City
840.92
52. Mumbai
837.21
53. Dar Es Salaam
569.85
54. Accra
453.85
55. Caracas
319.73
*Each city is scored out of a possible 1181.3
points. We've included each city's total score.
ASIA/AUSTRALIA
U S A / C A N A D A
L AT I N A M E R I C A
A F R I C A
M I D D L E E A S T
E U R O P E
C I T I E S A S
A F F O R D A B L E P L A C E S
O U R C O L L E C T I V E C H A L L E N G E I S
T O M A K E C I T I E S M O R E A F F O R D A B L E
F O R Y O U T H .
The YouthfulCities Affordability Index takes 55 of
the world’s biggest cities and compares the cost of
everyday items like food, housing and public transit.
The index also covers some basic entertainment costs,
like the cost of a movie ticket, since letting loose on a
budget is key to making a city an exhilarating, liveable
and youthful place. Finally, in each city it looks at the
base wage that young people make at entry-level jobs
and the base tax rate for everyday goods.
W E P O S E T H I S T O
C I T Y G O V E R N M E N T S :
You rely on the brains and brawn of young people.
You need to ensure that young talent, creativity
and energy is nurtured, in order to foster the
social, cultural and economic capital of this crucial
demographic and your city as a whole. We dare you
to guarantee that you will be a place young people
can afford to live today and tomorrow.
W E P O S E T H I S C H A L L E N G E
T O C O M PA N I E S :
Your bottom lines rely on young people. We want
to afford your products or services. But you often
price yourself out of the market. Take a cue from
the growing contingent of companies working with
municipalities to promote affordability, as well
as those promoting the sharing economy. These
businesses are working towards cities as more
affordable places and are encouraging all of us to
capitalize on our underused assets, which in turn
push affordability.

5. 98
Y O U T H F U L C I T I E S
A F F O R D A B I L I T Y S E R I E S
2 0 1 5
W H Y W E ’ R E
D I F F E R E N T
Our Index is different in that we place a strong
emphasis on base wages. Too often, discussions about
affordability focus solely on the cost of everyday items,
products and services, usually normalized to U.S.
dollars, and indexed against a baseline city. We think
these fail to take into account the varying levels of
income present in each city. Our Affordability Index is
unique in the way we measure costs as relative to one
hour of minimum wage labour in each of our cities.
Looking at the results, you’ll see that Sydney takes the
top spot, followed by Montreal, Detroit, San Francisco
and Berlin. These aren’t all cities that normally place
at the top of similar lists. What’s happening in these
cities, however, is that minimum wage has come to
be framed as a key policy area not only for young
people, but for the growing overall demographic that
relies on minimum wage jobs. In these places a fair
wage has become a key concern for policy makers
too, as they’ve begun to wake up to the reality that
youth are highly mobile and likely to leave town if a
city isn’t doing enough to protect their pocketbook.
Since youth rely on entry level jobs when they enter
the workforce, we feel tying costs to an hour of
minimum wage labour is the best way to measure a
city’s affordability from a youth perspective. And the
fact that it’s within the legislative reach of many of
the municipalities in our Index to increase wages only
adds to the impact of this factor. Measuring it this way,
we look at affordability from both a cost perspective,
as well as from an entry- level income perspective. Both
sides of the coin, we feel, are necessary to accurately
state how reasonably priced life in any given city is.

6. 10 11
11. Chicago
12. Osaka
13. Montreal
14. New York City
15. Washington
16. Miami
17. Boston
18. Dallas
19. Amsterdam
20. London
21. Hong Kong
22. Seoul
23. Rome
24. Madrid
25. Singapore
26. Shanghai
27. Tel Aviv
28. Warsaw
29. Karachi
30. Quito
31. Santiago
32. Istanbul
33. Jakarta
34. Manila
35. Buenos Aires
36. Durban
37. Lima
38. Dubai
39. Johannesburg
40. Bangkok
41. Rio De Janeiro
42. Bogota
43. Sao Paulo
44. Casablanca
45. Cairo
46. Moscow
47. Beirut
48. New Delhi
49. Nairobi
50. Mumbai
51. Mexico City
52. Lagos
53. Dar Es Salaam
54. Accra
55. Caracas
11. New York City
12. Osaka
13. Chicago
14. Washington
15. Detroit
16. Miami
17. Boston
18. Rome
19. London
20. Dallas
21. Tel Aviv
22. Madrid
23. Seoul
24. Singapore
25. Hong Kong
26. Buenos Aires
27. Shanghai
28. Warsaw
29. Santiago
30. Istanbul
31. Rio De Janeiro
32. Sao Paulo
33. Tehran
34. Quito
35. Bogota
36. Dubai
37. Casablanca
38. Jakarta
39. Lima
40. Beirut
41. Durban
42. Johannesburg
43. Manila
44. Bangkok
45. Moscow
46. Cairo
47. Nairobi
48. Lagos
49. New Delhi
50. Mexico City
51. Caracas
52. Karachi
53. Mumbai
54. Accra
55. Dar Es Salaam

7. 12 13
11. Karachi
12. Los Angeles
13. Paris
14. Vancouver
15. New York City
16. Washington
17. Boston
18. Madrid
19. San Francisco
20. Berlin
21. Lima
22. Tel Aviv
23. London
24. Rome
25. Singapore
26. Seoul
27. Rio De Janeiro
28. Shanghai
29. Buenos Aires
30. Quito
31. Hong Kong
32. Casablanca
33. Warsaw
34. Istanbul
35. Sao Paulo
36. Manila
37. Santiago
38. Bogota
39. Jakarta
40. Dubai
41. Durban
42. New Delhi
43. Moscow
44. Tehran
45. Cairo
46. Bangkok
47. Johannesburg
48. Mumbai
49. Nairobi
50. Beirut
51. Lagos
52. Mexico City
53. Dar Es Salaam
54. Accra
55. Caracas
11. New York City
12. London
13. Miami
14. Rome
15. San Francisco
16. Amsterdam
17. Madrid
18. Washington
19. Boston
20. Tokyo
21. Vancouver
22. Seoul
23. Rio De Janeiro
24. Singapore
25. Sao Paulo
26. Hong Kong
27. Tel Aviv
28. Warsaw
29. Durban
30. Bogota
31. Johannesburg
32. Shanghai
33. Buenos Aires
34. Jakarta
35. Quito
36. Santiago
37. Istanbul
38. Casablanca
39. Cairo
40. Karachi
41. New Delhi
42. Manila
43. Bangkok
44. Nairobi
45. Lima
46. Dubai
47. Moscow
48. Beirut
49. Tehran
50. Mumbai
51. Mexico City
52. Lagos
53. Dar Es Salaam
54. Caracas
55. Accra

8. 14 15
11. Los Angeles
12. Boston
13. Paris
14. Rome
15. Chicago
16. New York City
17. London
18. Osaka
19. Tokyo
20. Washington
21. Tel Aviv
22. Madrid
23. Seoul
24. Hong Kong
25. Warsaw
26. Shanghai
27. Santiago
28. Singapore
29. Karachi
30. Johannesburg
31. Rio De Janeiro
32. Buenos Aires
33. Durban
34. Jakarta
35. Quito
36. Bogota
37. Istanbul
38. Tehran
39. Sao Paulo
40. Casablanca
41. Lima
42. Manila
43. New Delhi
44. Dubai
45. Bangkok
46. Beirut
47. Cairo
48. Nairobi
49. Mumbai
50. Mexico City
51. Moscow
52. Lagos
53. Dar Es Salaam
54. Accra
55. Caracas
11. Karachi
12. New York City
13. Dallas
14. Detroit
15. Vancouver
16. Los Angeles
17. San Francisco
18. Boston
19. Montreal
20. Miami
21. Chicago
22. Washington
23. Amsterdam
24. Berlin
25. Madrid
26. Toronto
27. Jakarta
28. London
29. Rome
30. Tel Aviv
31. Dubai
32. Cairo
33. Seoul
34. Hong Kong
35. Buenos Aires
36. Istanbul
37. Singapore
38. New Delhi
39. Shanghai
40. Sao Paulo
41. Tokyo
42. Osaka
43. Mumbai
44. Bangkok
45. Warsaw
46. Rio De Janeiro
47. Bogota
48. Mexico City
49. Johannesburg
50. Lima
51. Nairobi
52. Dar Es Salaam
53. Lagos
54. Accra
55. Caracas

9. 1716
11. Rome
12. Chicago
13. Dallas
14. Los Angeles
15. Boston
16. Washington
17. Amsterdam
18. New York City
19. Tel Aviv
20. Madrid
21. Seoul
22. Tokyo
23. Osaka
24. Singapore
25. London
26. Quito
27. Hong Kong
28. Buenos Aires
29. Warsaw
30. Jakarta
31. Bogota
32. Santiago
33. Istanbul
34. Durban
35. Manila
36. Lima
37. Rio De Janeiro
38. Sao Paulo
39. Shanghai
40. Casablanca
41. Bangkok
42. Johannesburg
43. Karachi
44. Cairo
45. Dubai
46. Nairobi
47. New Delhi
48. Beirut
49. Mexico City
50. Mumbai
51. Moscow
52. Lagos
53. Dar Es Salaam
54. Accra
55. Caracas
11. Tehran
12. Amsterdam
13. Madrid
14. Los Angeles
15. Paris
16. Rome
17. Washington
18. Tel Aviv
19. Tokyo
20. Boston
21. San Francisco
22. Seoul
23. New York City
24. Buenos Aires
25. London
26. Warsaw
27. Quito
28. Istanbul
29. Santiago
30. Cairo
31. Karachi
32. Shanghai
33. Lima
34. Casablanca
35. Durban
36. New Delhi
37. Sao Paulo
38. Johannesburg
39. Bogota
40. Singapore
41. Manila
42. Rio De Janeiro
43. Bangkok
44. Jakarta
45. Beirut
46. Hong Kong
47. Dubai
48. Nairobi
49. Mumbai
50. Mexico City
51. Moscow
52. Lagos
53. Dar Es Salaam
54. Caracas
55. Accra

10. 19
City
Minimum wage
(USD 2014)
Consumption
tax rate
GINI Coefficient†
Cost of rental
housing*
Cost of one prepaid
cellular minute*
Cost of 12 eggs*
Cost of monthly
transit pass
Price per square
meter to buy an
apartment*
Cost of a tube of
toothpaste*
Standing rate
for a taxi*
Cost of a
movie ticket*
Cost of a fast
food meal*
Cost of 1 month of
gym membership
in business district*
Cost of 1 pair of
sport shoes (Nike,
Adidas, or similar)*
Accra 453.85 0.37 15% 0.43 10805.24 0.48 10.94 131.05 4392.79 30.89 19.77 26.00 26.42 382.78 388.17
Amsterdam 1029.64 9.28 21% 0.34 255.68 0.05 0.37 12.88 739.88 0.34 0.40 1.51 1.01 5.80 12.80
Bangkok 960.38 1.22 7% 0.40 1046.91 0.17 2.05 26.72 3059.59 1.95 0.94 4.85 3.96 73.81 83.89
Beirut 859.84 1.40 10% 0.86 1159.45 0.23 2.95 59.32 2.88 2.46 0.00 7.16 6.41 74.32 83.75
Berlin 1067.44 11.29 19% 0.28 131.15 0.01 0.46 9.35 414.99 0.15 0.40 0.94 0.77 3.97 11.41
Bogota 938.54 1.72 16% 0.54 988.55 0.08 1.39 27.79 1203.10 0.80 1.05 3.14 4.03 35.53 51.89
Boston 1063.35 8.00 6% 0.48 379.75 0.07 0.42 3.25 369.43 0.38 0.33 1.49 0.90 8.40 10.68
Buenos Aires 973.52 3.44 21% 0.37 476.72 0.15 0.91 9.52 185.66 1.01 0.64 2.91 3.09 31.89 69.40
Cairo 984.49 0.91 10% 0.31 698.70 0.08 2.03 20.63 939.96 1.49 0.56 5.69 5.83 79.75 113.46
Caracas 319.73 0.53 12% 0.39 9361.79 0.69 34.27 18.69 581.49 29.33 24.92 28.04 85.67 1345.87 1370.64
Casablanca 961.38 1.47 13% 0.41 794.71 0.22 0.98 15.52 1604.59 1.41 0.14 4.73 4.17 50.41 56.08
Chicago 1046.10 8.25 9% 0.47 241.89 0.12 0.29 10.91 396.96 0.22 0.39 1.43 0.81 10.43 10.80
Dallas 1054.08 7.25 8.25% 0.46 212.70 0.08 0.31 5.52 277.14 0.29 0.31 1.44 0.92 5.46 11.87
Dar Es Salaam 569.85 0.26 18% 0.39 8732.45 1.03 8.31 128.22 798.08 6.85 6.92 23.08 18.46 334.94 497.69
Detroit 1074.59 8.15 6% 0.47 191.66 0.02 0.27 5.77 102.53 0.24 0.31 1.18 0.76 4.11 9.60
Dubai 992.91 1.56 0% 0.30 1590.69 0.13 1.60 38.40 3294.28 2.25 0.52 6.38 3.82 66.95 78.76
Durban 922.44 1.38 14% 0.72 813.62 0.15 1.61 18.24 658.15 0.78 0.00 3.93 3.49 32.28 52.76
Hong Kong 995.19 3.87 0% 0.54 1388.59 0.06 0.95 19.32 6754.32 0.75 0.63 2.81 1.16 18.74 24.35
Istanbul 956.92 2.47 18% 0.40 541.33 0.10 1.18 32.17 1225.95 1.33 0.68 3.34 2.84 36.72 35.92
Jakarta 975.70 1.47 10% 0.38 1086.30 0.17 1.39 20.86 2426.15 1.10 0.48 2.98 2.92 35.11 60.86
Johannesburg 900.43 1.38 14% 0.60 968.12 0.11 2.18 58.96 940.22 0.90 2.44 4.89 3.91 29.12 62.63
Karachi 915.97 0.52 23% 0.30 730.26 0.37 0.37 28.80 1942.41 1.49 0.29 5.10 2.24 27.85 17.70
Lagos 877.87 0.71 5% 0.49 3139.65 0.24 3.20 2.22 641.20 4.11 10.65 13.31 12.91 172.02 93.33
Lima 986.66 1.47 5% 0.45 777.22 0.12 0.50 7.42 1505.65 2.20 3.84 4.13 3.58 52.39 69.87
London 1010.32 7.85 20% 0.34 487.20 0.03 0.57 20.81 1942.30 0.32 0.48 2.30 1.09 11.19 12.86
Los Angeles 1057.79 9.00 9% 0.49 266.13 0.07 0.37 4.78 520.49 0.21 0.32 1.45 0.75 6.00 9.14
Madrid 1011.51 6.24 21% 0.33 264.71 0.06 0.42 11.44 764.46 0.34 0.43 1.85 1.49 14.12 15.06
18
*Raw data supplied by expatistan.com
† GINI coefficient is a standard economic measure of income inequality.
Its range is between 0 (per fect equality) and 1 (total inequality).
F I N A L
D ATA
All cost values below refer to the number of hours of work at the city’s
minimum wage that it takes to purchase the given item.

11. 20
City
Minimum wage
(USD 2014)
Consumption
tax rate
GINI Coefficient†
Cost of rental
housing*
Cost of one prepaid
cellular minute*
Cost of 12 eggs*
Cost of monthly
transit pass
Price per square
meter to buy an
apartment*
Cost of a tube of
toothpaste*
Standing rate
for a taxi*
Cost of a
movie ticket*
Cost of a fast
food meal*
Cost of 1 month of
gym membership
in business district*
Cost of 1 pair of
sport shoes (Nike,
Adidas, or similar)*
Manila 958.55 1.29 12% 0.43 1036.81 0.13 1.34 44.01 3013.48 1.87 0.06 4.07 2.96 56.24 68.61
Mexico City 840.92 0.57 16% 0.48 2649.71 0.29 3.71 6.99 451.28 3.67 1.20 9.00 9.73 141.97 150.87
Miami 1051.99 8.05 7% 0.50 251.79 0.11 0.34 4.76 367.00 0.32 0.37 1.41 0.88 5.38 10.60
Montreal 1082.84 10.05 10% 0.36 161.43 0.05 0.35 44.69 177.33 0.18 0.33 1.16 0.83 5.18 11.02
Moscow 881.42 1.21 18% 0.52 2678.37 0.04 1.86 43.74 16617.03 2.31 0.18 9.39 6.36 161.73 120.39
Mumbai 837.21 0.43 12.36% 0.34 2330.67 0.04 2.34 56.62 1547.11 2.85 0.84 9.34 8.72 134.02 123.78
Nairobi 908.72 0.90 15% 0.34 1659.47 0.06 2.71 12.41 5013.44 2.17 3.93 6.93 7.64 92.29 60.62
New Delhi 952.24 0.62 13% 0.34 837.73 0.03 1.72 13.31 1171.96 1.58 0.69 6.98 6.68 60.96 115.72
New York City 1043.52 8.75 8.88% 0.51 461.67 0.05 0.40 9.53 692.97 0.31 0.29 1.57 0.86 10.68 9.15
Osaka 1062.27 8.39 8% 0.42 226.57 0.05 0.31 6.84 989.77 0.30 0.83 2.09 0.82 11.43 8.45
Paris 1060.60 12.52 20% 0.32 276.48 0.03 0.39 8.67 610.33 0.27 0.21 1.05 0.78 8.60 10.54
Quito 1001.85 2.13 12% 0.42 516.43 0.07 0.93 34.31 2253.05 1.15 0.16 2.35 2.48 35.42 52.56
Rio De Janeiro 898.66 2.31 19% 0.52 1040.81 0.34 0.89 5.83 1568.14 0.63 0.96 4.34 4.00 31.42 72.45
Rome 996.84 7.97 22% 0.49 284.64 0.02 0.60 7.24 827.99 0.33 0.50 1.41 1.22 9.44 14.47
San Francisco 1068.75 11.05 8.50% 0.48 386.90 0.05 0.43 26.92 886.50 0.33 0.32 1.17 0.64 5.58 7.73
Santiago 944.33 2.53 19% 0.49 559.91 0.13 1.36 37.10 1885.77 1.17 0.20 3.24 2.69 24.18 27.58
Sao Paulo 900.33 2.31 18.50% 0.56 857.97 0.27 1.27 11.16 2355.25 0.70 0.82 4.60 4.04 44.69 61.08
Seoul 1035.08 4.46 10% 0.31 439.32 0.06 0.79 11.77 3356.80 0.61 0.61 1.88 1.17 16.77 21.79
Shanghai 987.10 2.75 11.60% 0.37 763.10 0.09 0.90 23.99 4868.49 1.00 0.76 4.69 1.82 21.20 46.55
Singapore 986.57 4.00 7% 0.48 1001.63 0.10 0.62 8.09 672.77 0.65 0.68 2.18 1.49 26.03 30.40
Sydney 1118.97 16.28 10% 0.33 186.72 0.04 0.33 0.00 1167.43 0.24 0.21 1.11 0.51 3.77 7.78
Tehran 1035.90 2.24 4% 0.38 0.03 0.11 1.98 5.54 1205.00 2.63 0.00 1.34 0.00 43.93 125.38
Tel Aviv 1039.32 6.41 13% 0.37 329.38 0.03 0.56 8.38 811.57 0.77 0.50 73.80 1.84 13.26 20.72
Tokyo 1065.09 9.10 8% 0.42 369.40 0.05 0.31 12.00 637.27 0.39 0.82 72.89 0.72 11.44 8.38
Toronto 1053.72 9.95 13% 0.42 228.29 0.05 0.36 10.09 766.27 0.24 0.44 74.71 0.80 5.56 11.56
Vancouver 1050.12 9.95 12% 0.48 233.69 0.03 0.39 8.76 1196.62 0.41 0.31 74.96 0.80 5.42 11.68
Warsaw 975.32 2.66 23% 0.33 509.32 0.03 1.06 21.42 691.50 0.77 0.95 70.26 2.06 20.98 32.38
Washington 1055.87 8.25 5.75% 0.44 326.25 0.11 0.41 73.37 84.07 0.36 0.39 74.35 0.86 12.45 8.75
21
F I N A L
D ATA ( C O N T )
All cost values below refer to the number of hours of work at the city’s
minimum wage that it takes to purchase the given item.
*Raw data supplied by expatistan.com
† GINI coefficient is a standard economic measure of income inequality.
Its range is between 0 (per fect equality) and 1 (total inequality).

12. 22 23
Y O U T H F U L C I T I E S
YouthfulCities is leading a unique urban regeneration.
We are building a global network of 15 - to 29-year-olds who dive
deep into youth-driven urban knowledge to create far-reaching inventive
solutions from youth outward. And, we are illuminating youthful stories
around the world. This leads to the 100 biggest cities and their almost
one billion inhabitants becoming more connected, dynamic, open, fun,
curious, and inventive – In other words, more youthful cities.
It’s a bold direction for a social enterprise that’s only two years old.
But we’re not shy about it.
W H AT I S S U E S
D I D W E R U N I N T O ?
Problem:
Some cities, for example Mumbai, have more than
1000 minimum wages.
Solution:
We take the average amount across all the given
minimum wages in a city.
Problem:
Not all cities have an agreed upon minimum wage.
Solution:
For cities without a legislated minimum we take the
base wage at a typical entry-level job, for example
a fast food restaurant.
Problem:
The cost of an everyday item like subway fare is
relative to the local currency value.
Solution:
All cost amounts were translated from local currencies
into U.S. dollars at the average price between January
2013 and January 2014.
Problem:
Costs are relative to the local average income level.
Solution:
Since robust data for average youth income at the
city level doesn’t exist, we use minimum wage as our
baseline income level.
While constructing this and other YouthfulCities Indexes we’ve run into logistical problems. Some are problems
inherent to comparing the cost of items between cities, others are specific to establishing minimum wage values
for all cities. Here we explain the key hurdles.
For more information, contact our Research Director: matthew@youthfulcities.com