![\"\"](\"http:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/06\/screen-shot-2011-06-11-at-9-37-15-pm.png\" "\\"Screen")
<\/a><\/p>\nI have actually lived in 2 of the cities currently on the list for 2010<\/a> of the most expensive cities in the world.\u00a0 One of them is in the top half of the list and the other is in the lower half.\u00a0 I\u2019m not for sure that looking at this list is really helpful when deciding where to live internationally (if you get offered a job at an international school there, mind you).\u00a0 It seems like the salary and\/or benefits are typically raised in accordance to the high cost of living in the city, but not always I suppose. Some schools on the list (Canadian International School Singapore<\/a>, Shanghai Community International School<\/a>, Hong Kong International School<\/a>, Seoul International School<\/a>, etc\u2026) offer generous housing allowances; when the school pays for all of your rent (and sometimes even the utilities).\u00a0 However, I know other schools on the list (American School of Barcelona<\/a>, Acs International Schools \u2013 Egham Campus<\/a>, etc\u2026) that don\u2019t offer a housing allowance.\u00a0 Not having to pay for rent (which is sometimes 1\/3 of your take home pay) plays an important factor in how expensive the city is for you.\u00a0 I was told by another friend who has worked at international schools for 4 years now that she plans to never pay for housing again!\u00a0 I guess once you get that benefit, it is hard to go back to paying for your own rent!\u00a0 There is always the money-saving option of having a roommate to help with high rent costs, but many teachers, as they get older, don\u2019t want to consider that as an ideal option.<\/p>\n High-priced goods: paying 2-3 times what you would normally pay.<\/strong><\/p>\n I know some teachers in the \u201cmost expensive cities in the world\u201d sometimes think twice about paying 7 USD for a loaf of bread at a bakery geared towards the expat community.\u00a0 Surely, that is expensive.\u00a0 They would never do that if they lived in their home country.\u00a0 I can\u2019t even think of a place that would sell a loaf of bread for that price in the United States.\u00a0 BUT, they actually have the money now in their budget to buy those types of things.\u00a0 For sure the stores know the secret; which is that many of the expats living there don\u2019t have to pay for their housing and have extra money to pay high prices for things that remind them of home\/western-type stuff.\u00a0 Especially when a new teacher first moves to a new city (when they don\u2019t know exactly where to buy things yet and where the best prices are at different stores), there are always expats willing and able to pay high prices for western things.<\/p>\n There are always cheaper alternatives.<\/strong><\/p>\n When you first move to a city, you don\u2019t know where to get the good prices.\u00a0 Once you find those places and ask your colleagues where to go, then for sure you might think the city is much less expensive than you had originally thought.\u00a0 Especially if you are in a city that has a culture similar to the type of foods you like to eat.\u00a0 For example, if you want to buy Cranberry juice in the United States, it is going to be relatively cheap.\u00a0 However, cranberry juice is not a popular juice to drink in most other countries in the world, thus it is going to be much more expensive (if you are luckily to even find it).\u00a0 Buying the local version of the products you like will for sure be a cheaper alternative.<\/p>\n Taxis and transportation.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you live in one of the most expensive cities in the world, you will most likely also be paying a lot of money for taxis and other transportation.\u00a0 It is especially true for cities on the list like London, Tokyo and Barcelona.\u00a0 However, it is not necessary true for other cities on the list like Shanghai and Beijing.\u00a0 Not being able to utilize taxis because of financial constraints can definitely play a factor in your decision to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world.<\/p>\n Final thoughts.<\/strong><\/p>\n There are so many factors that come into play when you decide whether a city is going to be too expensive for you.\u00a0 It is difficult to get a good idea of how that will effect your decision to move there before you are actually living there.\u00a0 I interviewed with a school in Singapore and they were really adamant about getting me to realize beforehand how expensive it was to live there.\u00a0 It was difficult for me to fully understand their concerns (after looking at their salary and benefits) without actually having experienced the high cost firsthand.\u00a0 Luckily, International School Community<\/a> is now here to help international educators.\u00a0 We have specifically designed our school profile pages to include questions about everything related to money, benefits and the many facets of the cost of living.\u00a0 With new comments being submitted every week, International School Community<\/a> is certainly the website to find out important information about many international schools around the world!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was just talking with an international school teacher friend of mine who is part of a teaching couple with 3 children.\u00a0 They are looking for another job right now; their next international school.\u00a0 I asked her where in the world that they would most like to move to.\u00a0 She\u00a0 told me that it would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[61,818,819,820,482,821,802,29,32,57,33,822,823,144,824,278,825],"class_list":["post-382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-great-link","tag-benefits","tag-cheap","tag-cities","tag-cost-of-living","tag-expat","tag-expensive","tag-housing-allowance","tag-international-school","tag-international-schools","tag-international-teacher","tag-international-teaching","tag-london","tag-most-expensive-cities","tag-taxis","tag-tokyo","tag-working-at-international-schools","tag-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2flVT-6a","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":518,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/hightlighted-article-the-10-fastest-growing-and-declining-cities-in-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":382,"position":0},"title":"Hightlighted article: The 10 Fastest-Growing (and Declining) Cities in the World","author":"ISCommunity","date":"March 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Shanghai, China Are you considering whether the city you might work in is a city decline?\u00a0 Are you specifically looking for international schools in cities that are considered to be the fastest growing in the world? It might be something to consider as it might directly effect your experience at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Highlighted Year for Int\u2019l Schools"","block_context":{"text":"Highlighted Year for Int\u2019l Schools","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/highlighted-year-for-intl-schools\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/03\/img_4966.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2741,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/save-money-working-international-school-teacher-2-go-eat-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":382,"position":1},"title":"How NOT to save money when working as an international school teacher #2: Go out to eat all the time!","author":"ISCommunity","date":"March 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We all hear about the big possibility of saving money while working at international schools, but the reality is that many of us don't save much of any money. \u00a0So, why aren't these international school teachers saving money? How NOT to save money when working as an international school teacher\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How NOT to Save Money"","block_context":{"text":"How NOT to Save Money","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/how-not-to-save-money\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/IMAG0333.jpg?fit=1200%2C679&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/IMAG0333.jpg?fit=1200%2C679&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/IMAG0333.jpg?fit=1200%2C679&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/IMAG0333.jpg?fit=1200%2C679&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/IMAG0333.jpg?fit=1200%2C679&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5484,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/comparing-the-schools-and-comments-working-in-beijing-china\/","url_meta":{"origin":382,"position":2},"title":"Comparing the Schools and Comments: Working in Beijing, China","author":"ISCommunity","date":"June 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Around the world, there are cities that have more than one international school. Many times\u00a0there is an American school, a British School, and an international school that uses an international curriculum. Some cities, though, have MANY international schools! \u00a0When that is the case, how do the comments about each school\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comparing the Schools and Comments"","block_context":{"text":"Comparing the Schools and Comments","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/comparing-the-schools-and-comments\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_4337.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_4337.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_4337.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_4337.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5457,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/new-survey-how-does-your-international-school-compare-to-other-schools-in-your-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":382,"position":3},"title":"New Survey: How does your international school compare to other schools in your city?","author":"ISCommunity","date":"May 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A new survey has arrived! 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\nHousing allowance: the main factor at play?<\/strong><\/p>\n