I noticed that the most expensive cities in the world in 2025 are mainly concentrated in Switzerland. Zurich leads the ranking with an index of 112.5, which means living there costs about 12.5% more than in New York. Geneva and Basel follow, along with other Swiss cities in the top six positions. It's interesting to see how an entire country completely dominates the list of the most expensive cities in the world.

The cost of living index works by using New York as a baseline of 100 points. What surprised me is that many American cities also rank high: New York is obviously the benchmark, but San Francisco, Seattle, and Boston have indices between 86 and 90. Honolulu is particularly expensive at 94.4, probably due to housing costs on an island. In the United States, demand in the tech sector seems to push prices significantly higher.

In Asia, Singapore, Tel Aviv, and Hong Kong are the most expensive cities in that region, although their indices are slightly lower compared to European cities. Norway emerges as another significant region, with Oslo, Trondheim, and Bergen all well positioned. What strikes me is the disparity: living in Zurich is 12.5% more expensive than New York, while cities like Amsterdam or Los Angeles are 24-25% cheaper.

There are also interesting details about salaries: in Zurich, they earn between 7,000 and 9,000 Swiss francs per month, among the highest in the world. So even though the most expensive cities in the world have high costs, wages tend to offset at least partially. Switzerland remains the dominant country for urban living costs.