I recently looked at data on the most expensive cities in the world in 2025, and it's crazy to see how Zurich, Geneva, and Basel completely dominate the rankings. These three Swiss cities occupy the top three spots with cost of living indices of 112.5, 111.4, and 110.7 respectively. To give you an idea, New York is used as a reference at 100 points, so living in Zurich costs about 12% more than in New York. It's insane.

What surprised me is that Switzerland alone fills the top six spots. Lausanne, Lugano, and Bern are also in the top six. Apparently, salaries there are proportionally very high, between 7,000 and 9,000 Swiss francs per month, which helps people manage these astronomical costs. Geneva with its international organizations and Basel with its pharmaceutical industry attract many people, which pushes prices even higher.

In the United States, New York is the only city really in the same range, ranked seventh worldwide. But then, you have Honolulu, San Francisco, and Seattle, which are also considered expensive, mainly due to real estate inflated by tech. It's interesting to see how specific industries shape local prices.

In Asia, Singapore and Tel Aviv appear in the top 15, but they are far behind Swiss cities and even New York. Norway also has several cities in the top 25 like Oslo and Trondheim. In the end, Europe really dominates when it comes to the most expensive cities in the world, with Switzerland leading the pack. An interesting snapshot of how geography and local economy create these huge variations in the cost of living.