I just reviewed an interesting analysis about which is the most expensive city in the world in 2025, and honestly, the numbers are quite revealing. It turns out Zurich tops the ranking with an index of 112.5, followed by Geneva (111.4) and Basel (110.7), all in Switzerland. The curious thing is that Switzerland literally dominates the top six positions, making it the most expensive country to live in without competition. New York, which is usually a global reference, barely reaches seventh place with 100 points, so imagine how much more expensive the world's most expensive city is compared to New York.

Looking beyond Europe, there are U.S. cities also appearing in the top: Honolulu (94.4), San Francisco (90.7), and Seattle (86) have quite high costs, mainly due to the real estate market and demand from the tech industry. In Asia, Singapore (85.3) and Tel Aviv (81.2) are leading. The interesting thing is that the index is calculated by comparing prices of housing, food, transportation, and services against New York as a base, so when you see the world's most expensive city with 112.5, it means approximately 12.5% more expensive than the U.S. city.

What caught my attention the most is that although Zurich is the most expensive city in the world, its salaries are also among the highest (between 7,000 and 9,000 CHF monthly), which helps balance the cost of living. Switzerland definitely takes the prize for having the most extreme cost of living globally, but at least the people living there compensate with significantly higher incomes than the global average.