What to Know Rises 5 spots from 2014 and 2015 rankings

Strong dollar makes NYC pricier than other global spots

Half of most expensive cities in Asia

It's no surprise to New Yorkers, but now it's official: This is a really expensive place to live.

New York City now ranks as the city with the 11th-highest cost of living in the world, according to a closely watched annual survey by the consulting firm Mercer.

That's up five spots from the last two years and the highest ranking for the city since 2009. No other U.S. city makes the top 25.

The survey uses New York City as its base and measures the cost of about 200 different things, including food, clothes and entertainment.

Hong Kong rose to #1 on this year's list, topping the Angolan capital Luanda (where high security and import costs make living prohibitive for most).

Of the top 10 cities, five are in Asia, three in Africa and two in Switzerland.

The cheapest city on the list? Windhoek, the capital of the southwest African country of Namibia.