Finance

The 28 major global cities where workers have the highest salaries — earning more than $2,000 a month

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Frankfurt skyline at sunset
Reuters

Every May, Deutsche Bank releases its annual "Mapping the world's prices" report, cataloging the cost of goods and services in a cross section of the world's biggest and most powerful cities.

To determine the cost of living all over the globe, the bank looks at everything from the cost of a packet of cigarettes to how much the average rent costs on a two-bedroom apartment.

One factor Deutsche's survey examines is how much people earn on average every month. The figure, which deducts taxes, is a handy indicator of the wealth of a city.

Broadly speaking, the cities that rank highly are in the northern hemisphere in developed Western economies, but southern-hemisphere powerhouses like Australia and New Zealand also feature.

Unsurprisingly, people living in cities where the cost of living is high tend to have higher salaries, with financial centers like London, New York, and Frankfurt, Germany, featuring prominently. Wages in Frankfurt have risen more than $200 a month over the past year, as banks look to move London-based workers to the city post-Brexit.

The top echelons of the list are relatively unchanged from last year, with the top four cities the same as in 2017, albeit in a slightly different order.

Check out the cities where people earn the most below. We've included any city where the average monthly salary is higher than $2,000 a month net of taxes.

28. Vienna — $2,425

Spanish Riding School of Vienna
REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

27. Vancouver, Canada — $2,458

vancouver spencer watson 528071 unsplash
Photo by Spencer Watson on Unsplash

26. Brussels — $2,480

brussels belgium night
Tatiana Popova/Shutterstock

25. Berlin — $2,482

Brandenburg gate LGBT rainbow flag
Adam Berry/Getty Images

24. Toronto — $2,519

toronto canada night
Inga Locmele/Shutterstock

23. Hong Kong — $2,550

Hong Kong
REUTERS/Bobby Kip

22. Edinburgh, United Kingdom — $2,565

Edinburgh
Getty Images

21. Auckland, New Zealand — $2,723

Auckland New Zealand
AsiaTravel / Shutterstock.com

20. Dublin — $2,762

dublin
Tilman Ehrcke/Shutterstock

19. Paris — $2,886

Paris
Shutterstock

18. Wellington, New Zealand — $2,946

wellington new zealand public transportation
Shutterstock/Milosz Maslanka

17. Helsinki — $2,988

helsinki
AP/Lehtikuva, Martti Kainulainen

16. Stockholm — $2,999

stockholm city
tarquingemstone/Flickr

15. Tokyo — $3,004

Tokyo, Japan view of Shibuya Crossing, one of the busiest crosswalks in the world.
Sean Pavone

14. Amsterdam — $3,058

Frozen canal in Amsterdam
Margriet Faber/AP

13. Singapore — $3,099

Singapore
Jirka Matousek/Flickr

12. Melbourne, Australia — $3,263

melbourne australia
Zephyr_p/Shutterstock

11. London — $3,381

London Big Ben
Shutterstock / pisaphotography

10. Frankfurt, Germany — $3,389

frankfurt germany
Shutterstock

9. Dubai, United Arab Emirates — $3,447

dubai skyline camel
Shutterstock/Dmitry Birin

8. Copenhagen, Denmark — $3,462

The Little Mermaid Copenhagen
Shutterstock

7. Chicago — $3,650

chicago green river st patricks
REUTERS/John Gress

6. Oslo, Norway — $3,664

oslo
franganillo/Flickr

5. Boston — $3,740

boston cityscape
RomanSlavik.com/Shutterstock

4. Sydney — $3,914

Sydney Opera House
REUTERS/Steven Saphore

3. New York City — $4,115

new york
Flickr/bryan...

2. San Francisco — $4,974

san francisco
canadastock/Shutterstock

1. Zurich — $5,764

zurich switzerland
NavinTar/Shutterstock

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Will Martin
Will Martin
Will Martin is a senior business editor with 10 years of experience in various roles at Business Insider. He works with a team of reporters and editors to cover everything business, with a special focus on consulting, financial markets, and the aviation industry.Prior to working on the business news team, Will led Insider's sports coverage in the company's London bureau, publishing award-nominated work on alleged gang involvement in elite boxing, deeply-reported features on a civil war in Olympic sport modern pentathlon, and profiles of some of the biggest rising-stars in soccer.Before joining the sports team, Will spent a year as an associate editor on Insider's global news team. Before that, Will worked as a markets and economics reporter for Business Insider for more than three years.During his time with the news team, Will assigned and edited reporting and features on everything from the Boeing 737 Max crisis, to the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China, to global geopolitics, and even a Barack Obama-themed service station in Ireland.He also personally reported on allegations of illegal mass human organ harvesting in China.Prior to working for Insider, Will earned a BA in International Relations from the University of Exeter and an MA in Financial Journalism from City, University of London.