I just reviewed the latest ranking of the world’s most expensive cities, and the trend is quite clear: Switzerland literally dominates everything. Zurich, Geneva, and Basel take the top spots with indices of 112.5, 111.4, and 110.7 respectively, compared with New York at 100 as a reference. In other words, living in Zurich costs approximately 12.5% more than in Manhattan. It turns out that the six most expensive cities are all Swiss, which says a lot about the standard of living in that country.

What’s interesting is that the United States also has a strong presence in the ranking. New York sets the global benchmark, but Honolulu (94.4), San Francisco (90.7), and Seattle (86) are also among the most expensive cities in the world. Boston, Washington D.C., and several cities in California also appear in the top 25. The high housing costs in these U.S. cities are directly linked to demand from the tech sector.

In Asia, Singapore leads with 85.3, followed by Tel Aviv (81.2), with Hong Kong further down the list. The curious thing is that although these Asian cities are costly, they still have lower prices than Switzerland and several U.S. cities. The index is calculated by analyzing housing, food, transportation, services, and local purchasing power. If a city has a score of 112, it means it is approximately 12% more expensive than New York; if it has 60, it is about 40% cheaper.

Norway also has several cities in the top 25 (Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger), so Europe definitely leads when it comes to the world’s most expensive cities. The reality is that living in these urban centers is expensive, but they also offer significantly higher salaries than the global average.