I just reviewed an updated ranking of the most expensive cities in the world in 2026, and honestly the results are quite predictable but it’s surprising to see how much Switzerland dominates. Zurich leads with 112.5 points, followed by Geneva with 111.4 and Basel with 110.7. That is, the six most expensive cities are all in Switzerland. Incredible.

The methodology is simple: they use New York as a reference with 100 points. If a city has 112, it means living there costs approximately 12% more than in New York. So when you see Zurich scoring 112.5, we’re really talking about extremely high living costs.

What’s interesting is that in the United States, New York is the seventh most expensive globally with exactly 100 points. But if you look at San Francisco (90.7), Honolulu (94.4), and Seattle (86), it’s clear that the West Coast also has brutal prices. Los Angeles and San Diego barely make it into the top 25, both with 76.3.

In Asia, Singapore is the most expensive with 85.3, followed by Tel Aviv with 81.2, and Hong Kong appears on the list but further down. Norway also has several cities in the ranking: Oslo (84.3), Trondheim (83), and Bergen (81.4).

The obvious conclusion is that the most expensive cities in the world are concentrated in Europe, especially in Switzerland, although the United States competes strongly with its major metropolises. If you plan to move to any of these most expensive cities in the world, you need very high salaries. In Zurich, for example, average salaries range around 7,000 to 9,000 CHF per month, which helps people live there despite the stratospheric prices.