Four cities in the Philippines – Makati, Quezon City, Manila, and Cebu – were included in Numbeo’s Mid-2022 Cost of Living Index, a list of the most expensive Asian cities to live in. The cities were at 38th, 43rd, 52nd, 60th place, respectively.
While this was the order of cities in terms of cost of living, rent in general was more expensive in Makati (20th), Manila (30th), Cebu (54th), and Quezon City (63rd), respectively.
Meanwhile, groceries were more expensive in Makati (23rd), Cebu (50th), Quezon City (51st), and Manila (54th), respectively.
In terms of purchasing power, however, Manila takes the lead (91st), followed by Makati (97th), Quezon City (98th), and Cebu (102nd).
Here are Numbeo’s findings for the four Philippine cities in its list:
Makati
- Family of four estimated monthly costs are ₱123,082.35 ($2,214.65) without rent (using Numbeo’s estimator).
- A single person estimated monthly costs are ₱35,001.21 ($629.78) without rent.
- Makati is 44.05% less expensive than Singapore (without rent, see Numbeo’s cost of living index).
- Rent in Makati is, on average, 56.27% lower than in Singapore.
Manila
- Family of four estimated monthly costs are ₱101,539.23 ($1,827.02) without rent (using Numbeo’s estimator).
- A single person estimated monthly costs are ₱29,089.17 ($523.41) without rent.
- Manila is 54.74% less expensive than Singapore (without rent, see Numbeo’s cost of living index).
- Rent in Manila is, on average, 69.79% lower than in Singapore.
Cebu City
- Family of four estimated monthly costs are ₱96,907.80 ($1,743.68) without rent (using Numbeo’s estimator).
- A single person estimated monthly costs are ₱27,513.00 ($495.05) without rent.
- Cebu is 56.79% less expensive than Singapore (without rent, see Numbeo’s cost of living index).
- Rent in Cebu is, on average, 81.03% lower than in Singapore.
Quezon City
- Family of four estimated monthly costs are ₱108,395.48 ($1,950.38) without rent (using Numbeo’s estimator).
- A single person estimated monthly costs are ₱32,858.18 ($591.22) without rent.
- Quezon City is 49.80% less expensive than Singapore (without rent, see Numbeo’s cost of living index).
- Rent in Quezon City is, on average, 82.27% lower than in Singapore.
There were 107 entries in the list, with Beirut, Lebanon being on top of the list and Peshawar, Pakistan in last place. All of the indices were made relative to New York City.
According to its website, Numbeo is the world’s largest cost of living database. Numbeo is also a crowd-sourced global database of quality of life data: housing indicators, perceived crime rates, healthcare quality, transport quality, and other statistics.
