# Expatistan Cost of Living Scraper (`lulzasaur/expatistan-scraper`) Actor Scrape Expatistan.com cost of living data. Get city rankings with price indices, detailed prices by category (Food, Housing, Clothes, Transportation, Personal Care, Entertainment). Compare living costs across 100+ cities worldwide. - **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/expatistan-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community) - **Categories:** E-commerce - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $10.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Expatistan Cost of Living Scraper Scrape cost of living data from [Expatistan.com](https://www.expatistan.com/). Extract city rankings with price indices and detailed prices across 6 categories: Food, Housing, Clothes, Transportation, Personal Care, and Entertainment. ### What data can you get? #### Rankings Mode (scrapeDetails = false) For each city in the rankings: - **City name** and **country** - **Rank** (global position) - **Price index** (relative cost of living score) - **URL** to the city's detail page #### Detail Mode (scrapeDetails = true) Everything from rankings mode, plus **50+ individual price items** grouped by category: - **Food**: lunch menu, fast food combo, chicken, milk, eggs, tomatoes, cheese, apples, potatoes, beer, wine, coca-cola, bread - **Housing**: rent (studio + apartment, expensive + normal area), utilities, internet, TV, microwave, laundry detergent, cleaning help - **Clothes**: jeans, summer dress, sport shoes, business shoes - **Transportation**: new car, gas, monthly transit pass, taxi ride - **Personal Care**: cold medicine, antibiotics, doctor visit, tampons, deodorant, shampoo, toilet paper, toothpaste, haircut - **Entertainment**: dinner out, movie tickets, theater tickets, Italian restaurant dinner, cocktail, cappuccino, beer in pub, iPad, mobile tariff, gym membership, cigarettes ### Input Parameters | Parameter | Type | Default | Description | |-----------|------|---------|-------------| | `searchQueries` | string[] | `["New York", "London"]` | City names to search for. Matched against Expatistan's city index. | | `maxListings` | integer | `50` | Maximum number of cities to scrape. Set to 0 for all (~107 cities). | | `scrapeDetails` | boolean | `true` | Whether to visit each city's page for full category prices. | | `proxyConfiguration` | object | `{"useApifyProxy": true}` | Proxy settings. Recommended since Expatistan uses Cloudflare. | ### Example Output (Detail Mode) ```json { "city": "New York City", "country": "United States", "rank": 1, "priceIndex": 243, "url": "https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/new-york-city", "categories": [ { "name": "Food", "items": [ { "item": "Basic lunchtime menu (including a drink) in the business district", "price": "$29", "priceValue": 29, "currency": "$" }, { "item": "Combo meal in fast food restaurant (big mac meal or similar)", "price": "$13", "priceValue": 13, "currency": "$" } ] }, { "name": "Housing", "items": [ { "item": "Monthly rent for 85 m2 (900 sqft) furnished accommodation in expensive area", "price": "$6,968", "priceValue": 6968, "currency": "$" } ] } ], "itemCount": 51, "scrapedAt": "2026-04-25T12:00:00.000Z" } ```` ### Example Output (Rankings Only) ```json { "city": "New York City", "country": "United States", "rank": 1, "priceIndex": 243, "url": "https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/new-york-city", "scrapedAt": "2026-04-25T12:00:00.000Z" } ``` ### Use Cases - **Relocation planning**: Compare living costs between cities before moving - **Salary benchmarking**: Understand purchasing power differences across cities - **Remote work analysis**: Find affordable cities to live in while working remotely - **Market research**: Track cost of living trends for business decisions - **Academic research**: Economic studies on global cost of living patterns - **Travel budgeting**: Estimate daily expenses for different destinations ### Tips - The rankings page lists ~107 cities worldwide. Use `maxListings: 0` to scrape all of them. - City name matching is case-insensitive and accent-insensitive. "New York" will match "New York City". - If no search queries match any cities, the scraper falls back to all ranked cities (up to maxListings). - Proxy is recommended as Expatistan uses Cloudflare protection. - Detail mode makes one additional request per city, so it's slower but provides much richer data. # Actor input Schema ## `searchQueries` (type: `array`): List of city names to search for (e.g., 'New York', 'London', 'Tokyo'). The scraper will find matching cities from Expatistan's rankings index and scrape their data. ## `maxListings` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of cities to scrape. Set to 0 for unlimited. The rankings page has ~107 cities total. ## `scrapeDetails` (type: `boolean`): If enabled, visits each city's detail page to get full category prices (Food, Housing, Clothes, Transportation, Personal Care, Entertainment). If disabled, only scrapes ranking data (city, country, price index, rank). ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Proxy settings. Recommended for Expatistan as the site uses Cloudflare protection. ## Actor input object example ```json { "searchQueries": [ "New York", "London" ], "maxListings": 50, "scrapeDetails": true, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true } } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): No description # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "searchQueries": [ "New York", "London" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/expatistan-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "searchQueries": [ "New York", "London", ] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("lulzasaur/expatistan-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "searchQueries": [ "New York", "London" ] }' | apify call lulzasaur/expatistan-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=lulzasaur/expatistan-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Expatistan Cost of Living Scraper", "description": "Scrape Expatistan.com cost of living data. Get city rankings with price indices, detailed prices by category (Food, Housing, Clothes, Transportation, Personal Care, Entertainment). Compare living costs across 100+ cities worldwide.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "57lQACb0Ah3JmQHQu" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/lulzasaur~expatistan-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-lulzasaur-expatistan-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/lulzasaur~expatistan-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-lulzasaur-expatistan-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/lulzasaur~expatistan-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-lulzasaur-expatistan-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "searchQueries" ], "properties": { "searchQueries": { "title": "City Names", "type": "array", "description": "List of city names to search for (e.g., 'New York', 'London', 'Tokyo'). The scraper will find matching cities from Expatistan's rankings index and scrape their data.", "default": [ "New York", "London" ], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "maxListings": { "title": "Max Cities", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of cities to scrape. Set to 0 for unlimited. The rankings page has ~107 cities total.", "default": 50 }, "scrapeDetails": { "title": "Scrape Detailed Prices", "type": "boolean", "description": "If enabled, visits each city's detail page to get full category prices (Food, Housing, Clothes, Transportation, Personal Care, Entertainment). If disabled, only scrapes ranking data (city, country, price index, rank).", "default": true }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy Configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Proxy settings. Recommended for Expatistan as the site uses Cloudflare protection.", "default": { "useApifyProxy": true } } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```