Where NOT to go

Above 100 men per 100 women AND above the $1,076 median cost. 153 of 549 cities fail both tests at once.

Horizontal bar chart of 26 cities that are both above the median cost of living and above 100 men per 100 women

Bar length is the ratio; the label inside each bar is that city's monthly cost. Colour is the shared 94/100/112 ratio scale.

Download the chart (PNG)

What the chart says

Publishing the bad news is the point. 153 of 549 cities fail both tests, and most are the obvious ones — US metros, plus a handful of expensive Latin American and Canadian cities.
Cheap does not mean skewed, and expensive does not mean crowded. Santiago at $974 sits on this list beside San Francisco at $4,016.

All 153

Every city failing both tests, worst first.

#	City	Country	Men per 100 women	Cost / mo	Surplus MEN 20–39
1	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	208.9	$2,303	1,900,403
2	Ajman	United Arab Emirates	208.9	$1,980	1,900,403
3	Abu Dhabi	United Arab Emirates	208.9	$1,957	1,900,403
4	Sharjah	United Arab Emirates	208.9	$1,472	1,900,403
5	Al Ain	United Arab Emirates	208.9	$1,398	1,900,403
6	Kuwait City	Kuwait	178.0	$1,164	511,200
7	Sliema	Malta	132.9	$2,168	25,819
8	Valletta	Malta	132.9	$2,135	25,819
9	Honolulu	United States of America	116.4	$3,433	21,012
10	San Jose	United States of America	114.3	$3,837	37,814
11	Birkirkara	Malta	132.9	$1,640	25,819
12	Rhodes	Greece	134.5	$1,354	7,683
13	San Diego	United States of America	111.1	$3,878	52,305
14	San Francisco	United States of America	108.3	$4,016	11,478
15	Eindhoven	Netherlands	113.5	$2,448	13,885
16	Reykjavik	Iceland	109.5	$3,211	3,362
17	Seattle	United States of America	109.1	$3,250	32,662
18	Vaasa	Finland	118.1	$1,540	1,865
19	Maribor	Slovenia	121.3	$1,288	7,156
20	Trondheim	Norway	109.9	$2,395	3,423
21	Milan	Italy	110.1	$2,221	16,462
22	Austin	United States of America	109.2	$2,302	20,497
23	Aalborg	Denmark	110.9	$1,783	7,584
24	Linköping	Sweden	112.9	$1,482	3,176
25	Zürich	Switzerland	104.8	$3,949	10,714
26	Ålesund	Norway	109.4	$2,011	734
27	Chania	Greece	114.8	$1,274	2,320
28	Dresden	Germany	111.3	$1,541	8,555
29	Koper	Slovenia	110.6	$1,529	1,254
30	Oulu	Finland	110.7	$1,482	3,438
31	Genoa	Italy	110.0	$1,514	5,472
32	Turin	Italy	109.8	$1,533	9,223
33	Galway	Ireland	104.7	$3,076	2,913
34	Queenstown	New Zealand	106.6	$2,172	585
35	Linz	Austria	108.1	$1,731	6,345
36	Sydney	Australia	105.1	$2,738	2,885
37	Innsbruck	Austria	106.4	$2,176	2,811
38	Lugano	Switzerland	104.7	$2,912	1,824
39	Miami	United States of America	103.8	$3,413	13,659
40	Drammen	Norway	106.6	$1,964	879
41	Vilnius	Lithuania	109.0	$1,412	10,055
42	Nuremberg	Germany	107.6	$1,653	5,554
43	San Jose	Costa Rica	108.5	$1,476	329
44	Espoo	Finland	106.8	$1,786	3,162
45	Lausanne	Switzerland	103.7	$3,205	4,290
46	Debrecen	Hungary	110.4	$1,128	6,552
47	Punta del Este	Uruguay	107.6	$1,534	2,208
48	Monterrey	Mexico	108.6	$1,334	14,461
49	Denver	United States of America	104.2	$2,713	5,754
50	Phoenix	United States of America	104.4	$2,526	27,506
51	Graz	Austria	106.2	$1,791	4,153
52	Lahti	Finland	106.9	$1,580	995
53	Kaunas	Lithuania	109.2	$1,175	6,585
54	Bari	Italy	106.7	$1,536	2,139
55	Limassol	Cyprus	104.2	$2,383	5,781
56	Los Angeles	United States of America	102.6	$3,629	36,608
57	Jönköping	Sweden	106.7	$1,400	1,371
58	San Antonio	United States of America	104.7	$1,985	14,215
59	Puerto Vallarta	Mexico	106.6	$1,395	3,384
60	Bologna	Italy	104.8	$1,899	2,241
61	Ljubljana	Slovenia	105.0	$1,807	3,403
62	Göteborg	Sweden	105.3	$1,701	5,283
63	Stavanger	Norway	103.5	$2,548	721
64	Barcelona	Spain	104.3	$2,036	31,396
65	Jyväskylä	Finland	105.9	$1,471	1,398
66	Odense	Denmark	104.8	$1,759	2,971
67	Trinidad	Cuba	107.2	$1,137	3,981
68	Stuttgart	Germany	104.2	$1,906	4,001
69	Naples	Italy	105.0	$1,556	5,120
70	Rome	Italy	104.4	$1,730	12,388
71	Salzburg	Austria	103.3	$2,298	1,595
72	Bilbao	Spain	104.1	$1,830	4,874
73	Brno	Czechia	104.9	$1,530	2,431
74	Tel Aviv-Yafo	Israel	102.3	$3,198	3,500
75	Alicante	Spain	104.7	$1,530	10,477
76	Ostrava	Czechia	106.0	$1,194	2,155
77	Townsville	Australia	103.0	$2,338	842
78	Žilina	Slovakia	106.1	$1,148	549
79	Netanya	Israel	103.3	$2,122	1,500
80	Johannesburg	South Africa	106.0	$1,130	58,502
81	Minneapolis	United States of America	102.9	$2,319	5,405
82	Catania	Italy	105.4	$1,243	1,753
83	Bergen	Norway	102.9	$2,294	1,304
84	Palma de Mallorca	Spain	103.4	$1,953	4,275
85	Christchurch	New Zealand	103.6	$1,840	2,118
86	Heredia	Costa Rica	104.8	$1,370	149
87	Nicosia	Cyprus	104.2	$1,551	5,781
88	Usti nad Labem	Czechia	105.9	$1,102	769
89	Colonia del Sacramento	Uruguay	104.8	$1,326	821
90	Port Moresby	Papua New Guinea	105.4	$1,157	89,083
91	Winnipeg	Canada	103.4	$1,771	3,635
92	Larnaca	Cyprus	104.2	$1,419	5,781
93	Vienna	Austria	102.9	$2,034	9,069
94	Las Vegas	United States of America	102.3	$2,555	7,355
95	Sofia	Bulgaria	104.4	$1,301	7,151
96	Barysaw	Belarus	103.3	$1,732	6,356
97	Mexico City	Mexico	104.5	$1,250	4,379
98	Helsingborg	Sweden	103.6	$1,472	699
99	Athens	Greece	103.4	$1,432	4,062
100	Quebec City	Canada	103.1	$1,518	2,235
101	Valencia	Spain	102.6	$1,778	8,436
102	Haifa	Israel	102.2	$2,072	1,300
103	Plzen	Czechia	103.1	$1,384	775
104	Jurmala	Latvia	102.8	$1,477	153
105	Antwerp	Belgium	102.2	$1,857	3,111
106	Pardubice	Czechia	103.3	$1,234	518
107	Berlin	Germany	101.8	$2,190	9,513
108	Nitra	Slovakia	103.5	$1,121	284
109	Bern	Switzerland	101.4	$2,797	1,791
110	Liege	Belgium	102.2	$1,771	1,808
111	Martin	Slovakia	103.4	$1,144	189
112	Tallinn	Estonia	102.5	$1,535	1,543
113	Nantes	France	102.4	$1,463	4,595
114	Groningen	Netherlands	101.7	$1,941	1,168
115	Geelong	Australia	101.4	$2,290	436
116	Umeå	Sweden	102.5	$1,279	534
117	Leipzig	Germany	102.0	$1,579	1,920
118	Omaha	United States of America	101.4	$2,164	1,155
119	Napier	New Zealand	101.5	$1,990	111
120	Wollongong	Australia	101.7	$1,753	319
121	Pecs	Hungary	102.6	$1,086	1,048
122	Tampere	Finland	101.7	$1,583	795
123	Budapest	Hungary	101.9	$1,345	4,370
124	Dallas	United States of America	101.0	$2,526	3,941
125	Palermo	Italy	101.8	$1,284	1,198
126	Budva	Montenegro	101.8	$1,269	1,403
127	Seville	Spain	101.7	$1,289	3,952
128	Kuopio	Finland	101.5	$1,447	275
129	Houston	United States of America	100.9	$2,393	6,704
130	Rotterdam	Netherlands	100.7	$2,764	1,457
131	Montreal	Canada	101.1	$1,756	3,140
132	Kristiansand	Norway	100.9	$2,133	158
133	Ceske Budejovice	Czechia	101.4	$1,359	263
134	Edmonton	Canada	101.0	$1,882	1,560
135	Tartu	Estonia	101.2	$1,329	167
136	Istanbul	Turkey	101.3	$1,142	33,021
137	Liberec	Czechia	101.2	$1,202	214
138	Florence	Italy	100.7	$2,028	272
139	Hradec Kralove	Czechia	101.1	$1,219	180
140	Nelson	New Zealand	100.9	$1,484	51
141	Toulouse	France	100.8	$1,580	1,806
142	Munich	Germany	100.5	$2,442	1,261
143	Ashdod	Israel	100.5	$2,276	300
144	Gold Coast	Australia	100.4	$2,484	25
145	Osijek	Croatia	100.8	$1,109	92
146	Auckland	New Zealand	100.4	$2,132	990
147	Pula	Croatia	100.6	$1,292	34
148	Prague	Czechia	100.3	$1,767	552
149	The Hague	Netherlands	100.2	$2,436	224
150	Bratislava	Slovakia	100.3	$1,575	15
151	Medellin	Colombia	100.3	$1,178	1,382
152	Örebro	Sweden	100.2	$1,345	37
153	Jerusalem	Israel	100.1	$2,486	200

Ranked by the ratio's excess over 100 multiplied by monthly cost, so a city has to be bad on both axes to rank highly. "Surplus men" is men minus women in the 20–39 band.

Where this is wrong

The median cost line moves as cities are added. It is a property of these 549 cities, not a fixed price point.
A bad ratio is not a bad city. Nothing here speaks to whether a place is worth living in on any other axis.
11 cities are held back, not missing. Every UK city, and most of Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea, ship census arrays that are not population counts — a few hundred people against multi-million cities, and Belfast computing to 158 men per 100 women off 173 people. They are excluded until the source is rebuilt.
Population is the linked administrative unit, not always the metro. New York City's census arrays cover a borough, Mexico City's a delegación, Japan's four cities a ward. Those ratios are real ratios of real places, but read them as that unit rather than as the whole metro.

Sources

Age by sex: national statistics offices per market — methodology. Cost: Numbeo, single person including rent, July 2026.

The same numbers drive the research desk, where you can filter and sort every city here, and women-majority cities.

More charts

The same list, right way up →

City rankings, ordered by the weighted score rather than by what to avoid.

The per-market deep-dives — 13 tabs of cost, visa, tax, safety and sub-national ratio for one country — are behind the Pro gate. Everything on this page is not.

Data updated 4 September 2026