More Americans dream of the European idyll. The housing costs are less romantic.
In most major cities, living alone no longer adds up, per new analysis from The Economist.
For many Americans, the idea of starting over in Europe has long hovered on the outskirts of their imagination — from lazy mornings in Parisian cafes to coastal life in Lisbon or long nights enjoying tapas in Barcelona. Lately, that daydream has started to look more like a serious plan.
In a November Gallup poll, one in five Americans said they wanted to move permanently to another country — the highest share recorded in the past two decades — while a recent Bloomberg report suggests that Europe is increasingly becoming a go-to, with official immigration records showing rising citizenship applications across the continent as political fatigue and high living costs at home make life across the Atlantic look more appealing.
Europayin’
But while the continental lifestyle is often framed as calmer and cheaper than in the US, the reality is more complicated. Higher taxes and stricter residency rules are straining the math, while housing costs — especially for solo renters — can quickly puncture the fantasy too, per new analysis from The Economist.
The Economist’s European Carrie Bradshaw Index — named after the solo-living protagonist in “Sex and the City” — which we’ve mapped above, asks a simple question: can a median wage earner afford a one-bedroom flat while keeping rent at or below 30% of their income? A score over 1 means yes; below 1 means no.
The answer doesn’t make great reading for US-based Europhiles. Across 39 cities on the continent, only eight passed the affordability test. Cities that have perhaps come to embody the European fantasy for many, like London, Madrid, and Rome, ranked among the less affordable end of the spectrum, with broadly unfavorable rent-to-wages ratios. Meanwhile, Lisbon and Prague also fell short, as rent in the Portuguese and Czech capitals has been rising faster than wages. Though Geneva posted the highest renting costs of all, it still looked more affordable than these cities thanks to its banker-skewed higher wage average.
On the brighter side, the eight affordable cities included two from Germany — Berlin (ranked No. 8) and Bonn (the most affordable overall) — along with Bern, Brussels, Helsinki, Luxembourg, Lyon, and Vienna.
