Overseas transfer can take a toll on an employees wallet

"Among the many complexities of relocating an employee from one country to another is the issue of how to compensate the employee for moving to an area with a significantly different cost of living," said Greg Hart, a consultant in the Dallas office of consulting firm William M. Mercer Cos.

Mercer recently released its semi-annual cost-of-living survey, which ranks 131 cities worldwide according to the relative cost of goods and services available there.

The survey ranks Tokyo as the most expensive city, with Osaka, Japan, not far behind.

New York at No. 13 ranked as the priciest U.S. city.

Tokyo is 414 percent more expensive than the city at the bottom of the list – Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

Dallas was not included in the study; Houston ranked 46th.

The study gauged prices in all the cities during the first week of March.

Researchers looked at the price of 200 items and the cost of housing.

Here's Mercer's list of the world's 15 most expensive cities. Mercer set New York City as the benchmark for its price index, with 100 points. Other cities were given a point value based on how their costs compared with New York's.

1. Tokyo 164.9

2. Osaka, Japan 143.6

3. Hong Kong 141.5

4. Beijing 138.3

5. Moscow 136.1

6. Shanghai 128

7. Seoul, South Korea 111.1

8. St. Petersburg, Russia 109.7

9. Guangzhou, China 107.9

10. London 106.9

11. Taipei, Taiwan 102.8

12. Shenzhen, China 100.1

13. New York City 100

14. Hanoi, Vietnam 94.9

15. Singapore 95.7