I just reviewed a ranking showing which is the most expensive city in the world in 2025, and honestly, I was quite surprised. Zurich tops the list with 112.5 points, meaning living there costs approximately 12.5% more than in New York. But what's interesting is that the six most expensive cities are all in Switzerland: Geneva, Basel, Lausanne, Lugano, and Bern also hold the top spots.

The ranking uses New York as a reference with 100 points, so any city above is more expensive and below is cheaper. What caught my attention is that New York is in seventh place with exactly 100, followed by Reykjavik with 96.2. In the United States, there are several expensive cities: Honolulu with 94.4, San Francisco with 90.7, and Seattle with 86 points.

In Asia, Singapore leads with 85.3, while Tel Aviv with 81.2 and Hong Kong are also quite high. Norway isn't far behind with Oslo, Trondheim, and Bergen in the top 20. It's interesting to see how the most expensive city in the world remains Zurich, but cities like Los Angeles and San Diego in California are also in the top 25 with 76.3 points each.

What truly determines these positions are the costs of housing, food, transportation, and services. Zurich and Geneva have very high salaries that balance out the expenses, but overall, if you want to live in one of these expensive cities, you need a pretty substantial budget. Switzerland is definitely the most expensive country in the world to live in, but Europe in general dominates the ranking.