I recently noticed this ranking of the most expensive cities in the world in 2025, and frankly Switzerland dominates absolutely. Zurich, Geneva, and Basel take the top three spots with indices of 112.5, 111.4, and 110.7 points respectively, meaning living there costs between 10% and 12% more than New York. The interesting thing is that if you look at the top six positions, all six are Swiss. Lugano, Lausanne, and Bern complete Switzerland’s dominance.

To understand the ranking, they use New York as a baseline of 100 points. Everything above that is more expensive; everything below is cheaper. New York itself ranks seventh globally, so it serves as the benchmark for the most expensive cities in the United States. Honolulu, San Francisco, and Seattle follow with indices between 94 and 86, mainly due to the cost of housing.

In Asia, Singapore is the region’s most expensive city in the world with 85.3 points, followed by Tel Aviv and Hong Kong. Oslo in Norway reaches 84.3, making it the most expensive city in the world outside of Switzerland and the United States.

What’s striking is how concentrated wealth is geographically. Europe dominates the ranking—especially Switzerland and Norway—while in the US, tech cities (San Francisco, Seattle) and financial capitals (New York, Boston) lead the costs. It’s also interesting to note that even Amsterdam and London appear at the bottom of the top 25 most expensive cities in the world, but still rank below many American cities.