This year, New York ranked 22nd on the global list compiled by Mercer, an investment and consulting subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan. Moscow was No. 1 on the most expensive cities list for the third year in a row, followed by Tokyo, London, Oslo and Seoul. New York dropped seven places in one year.

Mercer ranks 143 cities, putting together a cost-of-living index based on the cost of 200 items including housing, food and transportation. Using New York as the standard with a score of 100, Moscow ranked 142.4, while Asuncion, Paraguay, was at the bottom at 52.5.

Yvonne Traber, a research director at Mercer, said the list shows the global economic shift.

"Although the traditionally expensive cities of Western Europe and Asia still feature in the top 20, cities in Eastern Europe, Brazil and India are creeping up the list," she said. "Conversely, some locations such as Stockholm and New York now appear less costly by comparison."