Just looked at some 2025 cost of living data and honestly, Switzerland is absolutely dominating. Zurich alone sits at 112.5 on the index, making it the most expensive city in the world to live in. That's about 12.5% pricier than New York, which itself is already brutal at the baseline score of 100. Geneva and Basel follow right behind with 111.4 and 110.7 respectively. It's wild that six of the top six most expensive cities globally are all Swiss.

What's interesting is how this breaks down across regions. New York holds its ground as the most expensive city in the world for America, but then you've got San Francisco at 90.7, Seattle at 86, and even LA and San Diego squeezing into the top 25. The US really does have a cluster of high-cost metros. Meanwhile, Norway's got multiple cities climbing the ranks too - Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen all showing up.

Asia's represented but not as heavily as Europe. Singapore's at 85.3, Tel Aviv at 81.2, and Hong Kong's further down. The index basically compares everything to NYC - housing, food, transport, utilities, entertainment. So if a city scores 112, you're looking at roughly 12% more expensive overall. The most expensive city in the world right now? That's Zurich, hands down. But honestly, the real story here is how much variation exists even within countries. Some US cities are way pricier than others.