I just saw an interesting ranking of the most expensive cities in the world in 2025, and I have to say Switzerland completely dominates. Zurich, Geneva, and Basel occupy the top three spots, with Zurich reaching an index of 112.5 points. To understand better: they use New York as a reference at 100 points, so living in Zurich costs 12.5% more than in the Big Apple. Believe it or not, the top six places are all Swiss, including Lausanne, Lugano, and Bern. It's crazy how a single country so thoroughly dominates the list of the most expensive cities in the world.

Among the most expensive cities in the world, New York ranks seventh with 100 points, making it the benchmark for everything. In the United States, there are quite a few other cities in the top 25: Honolulu, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, San Diego, and Los Angeles. What surprised me is that Norway has four cities on the list (Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger). In Asia, Singapore, Tel Aviv, and Hong Kong are the only representatives among the most expensive.

What makes these cities so costly is the calculation that considers housing, food, transportation, utilities, entertainment, and local purchasing power. In Zurich, for example, monthly salaries range from 7,000 to 9,000 Swiss francs, which helps offset the costs. Geneva is second with 111.4 points, home to international organizations like the UN and WHO, while Basel with 110.7 points is an important hub for pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. It's interesting how wealth and high salaries in these places manage to balance out the high living costs. Europe clearly leads the ranking of the most expensive cities in the world, with Switzerland at the top, followed by Norway and some American centers.