Why some low-cost cities can be among the hardest places to afford

A city that looks affordable on a spreadsheet can still feel expensive in daily life. That is the tension at the heart of Al Jazeera’s latest AJLabs explainer, which uses a simple but revealing measure: how many Big Macs a monthly salary can buy in different cities. The comparison highlights a common trap in cost-of-living debates. A place may have lower sticker prices for rent, food or transport than a wealthier city, yet workers there may still have far less room in their budgets because wages are also much lower. AJLabs illustrates that gap by comparing purchasing power rather than prices alone. In the example cited in the feed summary, a worker in Cairo can afford 22 hamburgers a month, while in Tel Aviv the figure is more than 200. The point is not the burger itself. It is the scale of difference in what a salary can stretch to once local earnings are measured against the same item across cities. That kind of comparison has become a popular shorthand in economics because it is easy to grasp. A Big Mac index-style approach does not capture every household cost, and it certainly does not reflect every family’s reality. But it can make an abstract issue more visible: the difference between nominal prices and true affordability. For readers, the takeaway is important. “Cheap” is not the same as “easy to live in.” A city can be cheaper in rent or groceries than another global hub and still put heavy pressure on residents if salaries lag behind costs. That is especially true where inflation, currency weakness or uneven wage growth eat into spending power. The AJLabs piece appears aimed at showing how people experience the economy in everyday terms rather than through technical charts alone. That approach often resonates because most households do not budget in percentages or policy terms. They budget in meals, bills and what is left at the end of the month. It also helps explain why cross-city comparisons can be misleading when made without context. A salary that sounds modest in one country may buy far more than a higher-sounding wage elsewhere once local prices are factored in. The reverse can also be true: a city with relatively low costs may still leave workers short because incomes are even lower. What the feed does not spell out is the full list of cities in AJLabs’ comparison, the exact methodology behind the figures or whether the analysis adjusts for differences beyond the burger metric. Those details matter, because any single indicator can only tell part of the story. Still, the broad message is clear from the summary provided: affordability is about the relationship between wages and prices, not either one on its own. For anyone weighing where to live, work or relocate, that distinction matters. Lower rents or cheaper meals may look attractive, but the real question is whether local earnings keep pace. As AJLabs suggests, some of the places that look cheapest on the map can still be among the toughest to live in once pay is taken into account.

Source: Al Jazeera Latest - https://www.aljazeera.com/video/by-the-numbers-3/2026/7/23/why-do-some-of-the-cheapest-cities-cost-the-most-to-live-in?traffic_source=rss