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Yes, these lists tend to be aimed at corporate expats with spouses and children negotiating with HR about their cost-of-living adjustments for overseas assignme
by quant18 17y ago
Yes, these lists tend to be aimed at corporate expats with spouses and children negotiating with HR about their cost-of-living adjustments for overseas assignments. So you get a basket of goods that reflects that audience --- big flat in an expat-friendly district, private schools, foodstuffs which are available locally in NY but have to be imported in Shanghai, etc.
What Hacker News really needs is a list of cities ranked on minimum cost of living: how little can a foreigner spend on housing, meals, entertainment, etc. in a given city, without being in danger of crime, disease, ceiling collapse, frostbite, or an unstable internet connection? That figure is far lower in Shanghai and even Hong Kong than in New York ...
- portman 17y ago>> "What Hacker News really needs is a list of cities ranked on minimum cost of living" That is an awesome request, and I would gladly help compile some figures if someone wants to take point on such a project. Anecdotally, I lived for several years in Southeast Asia (2002-2004) and at that time Hồ Chí Minh City in Việt Nam definitely had the best "hacker price index". Cost of living was miniscule, yet internet connectivity was still decent. (Better than, for example, Bangkok or KL.)
- stevoski 17y agoA couple of years ago, Asuncion, Paraguay won in a "cheapest city" survey. I wonder what their Internet connectivity is like.
- hiena03 17y agoI live in Asunción and the Internet connectivity sucks in general :( This is a link to an ADSL ISP http://www.click.com.py/planes.php http://www.click.com.py/planes.php if you want to see prices
- bhseo 17y agoHere is a site with cost-of-living figures for a lot of places. You can also help by adding data for your current location. http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/ http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/
- antester 17y agoI would like that list! I would expect that there are plenty of small US cities that are cheap for those who don't want to deal with a new country while they are trying to set up a startup, however....