Gulf cities are known to be expensive but Numbeo's mid-year cost of living index has revealed that Doha has the 10th highest rent in the world.
Doha even managed to beat out expensive cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Geneva, Washington D.C., Singapore and Zurich. According to the ranking, Dubai came in at 14th and Abu Dhabi at 18th. The most expensive rent in the world went to Monaco, followed by Luanda, Angola, and San Francisco, CA. New York City, notorious for its high rent prices, came in 5th place.
However, overall for cost of living Doha ranked much lower on the list, at 205th. This was still ahead of other Gulf cities such as Dubai at 212th, Manama at 269th, Abu Dhabi at 278th, and Muscat at 283rd. This data suggests that Doha is the most expensive city in the Gulf overall.
In total, 517 cities were assessed around the world, with the highest cost of living going to Hamilton, Bermuda, followed by Geneva and Zurich.
The data in Numbeo's ranking is user generated. Specifically for Doha, 174 users made 1,236 entries over a period of 18 months. The rankings are based off of New York City as a benchmark, which always maintains a score of 100. Other cities receive scores lower than or higher than 100 based off the data provided by users.
As the data is user generated, it may be somewhat inaccurate but likely provides at least a ballpark figure for understanding rent costs and cost of living throughout the world.