On most construction sites, the arrangement of tower cranes is decided by site engineers based on their own experience, which can cause cost overruns and delays in the lifting work. Although many researchers have conducted studies on tower crane arrangement using computer modeling and knowledge-based expert systems as well as mathematical models, no research has aimed to develop an algorithm to identify an optimum solution among several alternatives for installation areas of tower cranes satisfying the conditions of lifting work. The objective of this study is to develop an automatic arrangement algorithm for tower cranes used in high-rise apartment construction. First, as a new concept, a possible installation area of tower cranes was suggested. Second, after proposing several alternatives based on the installation points suggested in this study, an algorithm analyzing the economic feasibility of tower cranes was developed considering the rental, installation and removal costs. Third, a case study was conducted to prove the validity of the developed algorithm for selecting and installing an effective set of tower cranes at minimum cost.