Cities Where an Emily in Paris Lifestyle Is Most Achievable, According To Study
Emily In Paris season 5 just released on Netflix | Photo Credit “Emily In Paris/Instagram”
According to a December 2025 report on Emily in Paris-inspired living costs, Sydney comes closest to making such a luxurious lifestyle affordable for a marketing executive. The study by the men’s jewelry shop IceCartel, examined 28 major cities to see where Emily's mix of designer fashion and upscale dining fits within a realistic budget
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Highlights-
Sydney gets you nearest to living like Emily in Paris, with a marketing executive's $7K salary covering most expenses despite a monthly shortfall of $1,300.
Los Angeles also makes Emily-like luxury living almost possible, as marketing professionals here can afford everything except the luxury outfits.
Tokyo allows a similar lifestyle at half the cost of most Western cities, though the $2,700 budget gap still makes daily designer wear unrealistic
Living like Emily in Paris is a fantasy, but some cities make it more possible than others. The research calculated what it actually costs to match Emily's lifestyle by tracking marketing-executive salaries and monthly expenses across 25+ cities. It added up costs like city-center rent, regular cappuccinos, and luxury outfits similar to what Emily wears on the show. Each city received two scores: one for realistic monthly expenses without designer clothes and another including luxury fashion. The gap between a marketing executive's salary and these costs shows which cities come closest to making living like Emily most feasible.
“Emily in Paris sells a lifestyle fantasy that simply doesn't exist anywhere in the real world, not even in Paris itself,” says Joosep Seitam, Co-Founder of IceCartel. The show presents constant designer fashion as normal for a marketing professional, which is completely disconnected from actual salaries and living costs. That said, Sydney and LA still come close to making such a lifestyle possible. But even they fall if you try to add thousands of dollars in expenses for luxury clothing.”
Sydney
What marketing executives earn here: $7,000 per month
What Emily's lifestyle costs without the clothes: $3,994
What it costs with designer fashion included: $8,293
The gap: Short by $1,293 each month
Sydney ranks first as the city where a high-earning executive can get closest to affording Emily's lifestyle. Professionals who have around $7,000 in wages can easily cover a city center apartment, regular dining out, and beauty appointments here (costing $4K in total). The gap only appears when you add designer outfits, as it leaves you about $1,300 short. This means you could match Emily's daily routine in Sydney, just not her Chanel and Valentino wardrobe.
Los Angeles
Next on the list is Los Angeles, where marketing executives earn around $7,560 monthly. Copying Emily’s luxurious lifestyle in LA, including constant dining out and regular beauty maintenance, comes to roughly $4,780. With this, you can still keep about $2,800 left over each month. But the challenge comes when you start matching Emily’s fashion choices too, as this can push expenses to $9,080 and create a $1,520 gap.
Tokyo
Tokyo ranks third among cities that make an Emily-like life more realistic to afford. Marketing managers here make around $4,130 monthly, nearly half what those in Sydney earn. But Tokyo is also much more affordable, even when renting central apartments ($1150) and having hair and nails done frequently ($70). So following Emily's daily lifestyle here costs around $2,540, leaving about $1,600 to spare. The gap only appears once you try replicating Emily's fashion looks at $4,299, as you'll fall $2,710 short.
Vienna
Vienna is the next city where Emily's lifestyle becomes somewhat achievable on a $4,658 salary. Regular café visits, restaurant dinners, and beauty treatments like Emily’s total $3,181 here, leaving you with about $1,500. However, this is not enough to cover for a wardrobe like hers. Getting luxury outfits in Vienna will send the expenses to almost $7,500, leaving you $2,821 short of getting the full Emily in Paris experience.
Toronto
Toronto completes the top five, offering more affordable luxury living than New York or LA. Downtown rent and regular dining with cocktails stay within a $3,500 budget here. And professionals earning $4,716 can handle this comfortably, even keeping about $1,200 each month. But like every city in the top rankings, that extra leftover disappears once you factor in Emily’s wardrobe. These high-end pieces can add $4,300 to monthly expenses, taking you $3K over budget trying to dress like her.
