I took a look at the latest data on the cost of living and honestly, it's crazy what you find when you look at the top 20 most expensive cities in the world. Switzerland completely dominates the ranking with Zurich at the top at 112.5 points, followed by Geneva and Basel. It's almost surreal to see six Swiss cities occupying the top spots.

What surprised me is how American cities are positioned. New York serves as a reference at 100 points, but after that, you have Honolulu, San Francisco, and Seattle which remain very expensive. At the same time, Singapore and Tel Aviv also appear among the top 20 most expensive cities in the world, showing that it's not just a European thing.

The index mainly compares housing, food, transportation, and services. If you see a score of 112, that means it's 12% more expensive than in New York. What's interesting is that even though these cities are expensive, salaries there are generally very high too. In Zurich, for example, monthly salaries range around 7,000 to 9,000 Swiss francs. So yeah, it's expensive everywhere, but at least people earn well to compensate.