Cost of Living score
Affordability, essential costs, and day-to-day financial pressure for residents.
Cost of Living in Singapore60/100
Cost of Living
Cost of Living in Singapore
Singapore is expensive on rent and vehicles, balanced by strong transit, public services, and food-court price stability.
- Last updated
- 2026-05-03
- Data year
- 2025
- Module score
- 60/100
Affordability score
60/100
Mid-tier affordability with strong public-service offsets.
Housing pressure
High
Public housing programs improve access; private rents remain high.
Vehicle cost
Very high
Vehicle entitlement costs structurally limit private-car ownership.
Singapore cost of living data table
This HTML table mirrors the visible score cards so important comparison data is never trapped in a browser-only chart.
| Metric | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Affordability score | 60/100 | Public transport and food-courts moderate daily expense. |
| Housing pressure | High | Most residents access HDB housing at managed prices. |
| Vehicle cost | Very high | Transit and ride-hail offset most household needs. |
Cost of Living city comparison
A crawlable comparison across every indexed city makes it easy to scan how this module changes between metros.
| City | Score | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore (this page) | 60/100 | Singapore is expensive on rent and vehicles, balanced by strong transit, public services, and food-court price stability. |
| Berlin | 70/100 | Berlin is more affordable than most major European capitals, with rent pressure rising over time. |
| Tokyo | 68/100 | Tokyo is not cheap, but transit access, service density, and varied housing formats improve practical affordability. |
| Copenhagen | 66/100 | Copenhagen is expensive in rent and services, but strong public infrastructure reduces some hidden mobility and health costs. |
| Paris | 55/100 | Paris has high housing pressure, but compact mobility and public amenities reduce some day-to-day costs. |
| Toronto | 55/100 | Toronto offers strong public services but housing prices and rents drive elevated cost pressure. |
| London | 52/100 | London is expensive in housing and central services, partially offset by transit reach and broad opportunity access. |
| Sydney | 50/100 | Sydney is expensive on housing and central services, partially offset by outdoor amenity and service quality. |
| New York | 49/100 | New York offers exceptional access to work and services, but housing costs place heavy pressure on household resilience. |
Explanation
Cost-of-living scoring weighs visible rent and services against transit and food-court offsets. Singapore performs well on offsets despite high housing pressure.
Read this module with the main city profile because single-topic pages can miss tradeoffs. A city with a high energy score can still have housing pressure, and a city with strong opportunity can still carry health exposure risk.
Sources
These pages use trusted institutional references for methodology and context. Mock values are typed and ready to be replaced by API-backed city datasets without changing route structure.
- UN-Habitat: World Cities Report 2024
Used as a policy and methodology reference for urban exposure and resilience signals.
- IPCC: AR6 WGII Chapter 6: Cities, settlements and key infrastructure
Used to explain urban climate vulnerability and adaptation scoring logic.
- Numbeo: Cost of Living Index
Used for directional affordability framing alongside official housing and price datasets.
Continue exploring
These links connect module pages back to city, ranking, and sibling topic paths with crawlable href values.
Singapore city profile
Return to the complete Singapore profile with all module scores and source context.
Air Quality in Singapore
Health-oriented air-quality conditions with context from WHO, EEA, and EPA benchmarks.
Energy in Singapore
Clean-energy readiness, grid resilience, and solar or efficiency opportunity signals.
Safety in Singapore
Personal safety, institutional trust, and resilience signals informed by international safety and crime data.
Internet Speed in Singapore
Broadband and mobile connectivity quality, latency, and digital-readiness signals for residents and remote workers.
Climate Risk in Singapore
Climate exposure, hazard frequency, and adaptation context for floods, heat, storms, and wildfires.
Overall Intelligence
A balanced ranking of cities across affordability, air quality, clean-energy readiness, and resilience.
Quality of Life
Cities that combine strong services, mobility, safety, clean air, and resilience into a healthy day-to-day profile.