Mapped: How Rent Prices Vary Across Major Cities Worldwide

By Niccolo Conte Article/Editing: Bruno Venditti Graphics/Design: Joyce Ma

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Key Takeaways

• New York is the most expensive city in the world for renting a three-bedroom apartment in the city center in 2025.
• Rent costs vary widely by region, with North America and Western Europe dominating the top end.

Rising housing costs remain a defining issue for cities around the world. In many global hubs, rents have continued to climb faster than wages, putting pressure on households and reshaping where people choose to live and work.

This map compares monthly rent prices for a three-bedroom apartment in the city center across major global cities in 2025. The data for this visualization comes from Numbeo via Deutsche Bank. Numbeo’s dataset is primarily crowdsourced, drawing on user-submitted cost-of-living information from cities around the world.

North America Tops the Rankings

U.S. cities dominate the top end of the ranking. New York leads by a wide margin, with average monthly rent exceeding $8,300.

Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles also rank among the world’s most expensive cities, reflecting strong demand, limited housing supply, and high-income labor markets.

Canadian cities such as Vancouver and Toronto, while cheaper than U.S. peers, remain costly relative to global averages.

Western Europe’s Costly Urban Hubs

Major European cities continue to command high rents, particularly in financial and cultural centers. London, Zurich, Geneva, Paris, and Amsterdam all report monthly rents above $4,000.

Even traditionally more affordable cities like Lisbon and Barcelona have seen rents rise sharply, driven by tourism, foreign investment, and population growth.

Cities in Latin America, South Asia, and parts of Africa remain far more affordable by comparison. Cairo, Delhi, Bogotá, and Bangalore all report monthly rents below $1,000.

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