Best of

The most expensive cities in the Mundevo index

Catalog ranked by cost-of-living index, highest first. Useful for benchmarking salary expectations against high-cost destinations.

Why this list matters

The expensive end of the catalog matters for two reasons: salary calibration (what gross do you need to negotiate to maintain your current lifestyle?) and reverse-shopping (what's the cost ceiling you're trying to escape?).

Note that cost ≠ value — Zurich and Singapore command premiums for institutional strength (healthcare, safety, infrastructure) that cheaper cities can't match. The pages for each city below break this down per axis.

How we ranked

Ranked descending by composite cost-of-living index. NYC (100) is the anchor; values above mean more expensive.

#	City	Cost index	Rent index
1	ZurichSwitzerland	144	126
2	GenevaSwitzerland	129	90
3	San FranciscoUnited States	120	115
4	LondonUnited Kingdom	113	107
5	DublinIreland	113	110
6	CopenhagenDenmark	106	86
7	New YorkUnited States	100	100
8	AmsterdamNetherlands	97	89
9	StockholmSweden	97	77
10	CorkIreland	96	67
11	OsloNorway	95	85
12	SalzburgAustria	93	49
13	SingaporeSingapore	92	80
14	SeattleUnited States	92	88
15	Tel AvivIsrael	92	88
16	DubaiUnited Arab Emirates	90	85
17	EdinburghUnited Kingdom	90	78
18	MunichGermany	88	75
19	Hong KongHong Kong	88	95
20	FrankfurtGermany	85	70
21	GothenburgSweden	85	40
22	ViennaAustria	84	71
23	ManchesterUnited Kingdom	84	72
24	Los AngelesUnited States	84	75
25	ParisFrance	83	60
26	TokyoJapan	82	55
27	MiamiUnited States	82	85
28	RotterdamNetherlands	82	63
29	SydneyAustralia	80	75
30	MilanItaly	80	65
31	VancouverCanada	80	78
32	AustinUnited States	78	75
33	ChicagoUnited States	78	70
34	LyonFrance	77	55
35	AucklandNew Zealand	76	46
36	BerlinGermany	75	55
37	SeoulSouth Korea	75	60
38	RomeItaly	75	52
39	HamburgGermany	75	60
40	MelbourneAustralia	75	68
41	BrusselsBelgium	74	40
42	WellingtonNew Zealand	74	44
43	TorontoCanada	72	66
44	BrisbaneAustralia	72	62
45	Abu DhabiUnited Arab Emirates	72	54
46	TallinnEstonia	71	52
47	AntwerpBelgium	71	34
48	BarcelonaSpain	70	50
49	OsakaJapan	70	50
50	MontrealCanada	68	60
51	LisbonPortugal	67	51
52	PragueCzech Republic	66	48
53	FlorenceItaly	66	38
54	MadridSpain	65	42
55	BusanSouth Korea	65	18
56	AthensGreece	62	42
57	TaipeiTaiwan	62	48
58	ThessalonikiGreece	61	20
59	PortoPortugal	58	40
60	ValenciaSpain	58	38
61	BudapestHungary	55	39
62	WarsawPoland	54	42
63	BrnoCzech Republic	53	25
64	RiyadhSaudi Arabia	52	30
65	KrakowPoland	50	29
66	SantiagoChile	48	22
67	JeddahSaudi Arabia	48	24
68	DebrecenHungary	46	15
69	ShanghaiChina	44	32
70	São PauloBrazil	42	35
71	Cluj-NapocaRomania	42	18
72	Cape TownSouth Africa	42	24
73	BeijingChina	42	28
74	Rio de JaneiroBrazil	41	22
75	ValparaisoChile	40	16
76	BucharestRomania	40	16
77	JohannesburgSouth Africa	39	16
78	Mexico CityMexico	38	28
79	BangkokThailand	38	28
80	IstanbulTurkey	38	20
81	Ho Chi Minh CityVietnam	36	28
82	LimaPeru	36	16
83	GuadalajaraMexico	36	18
84	MedellinColombia	35	25
85	JakartaIndonesia	35	16
86	Chiang MaiThailand	35	12
87	PenangMalaysia	35	11
88	CasablancaMorocco	34	14
89	ManilaPhilippines	34	15
90	Kuala LumpurMalaysia	33	22
91	HanoiVietnam	33	14
92	ArequipaPeru	32	10
93	AnkaraTurkey	32	12
94	BaliIndonesia	32	22
95	BogotaColombia	32	14
96	MarrakechMorocco	31	12
97	CebuPhilippines	31	11
98	CordobaArgentina	30	10
99	Buenos AiresArgentina	29	18
100	BangaloreIndia	28	22
101	MumbaiIndia	28	18
102	DelhiIndia	26	10
103	CairoEgypt	24	8
104	AlexandriaEgypt	22	6

The top three, in context

ZurichSwitzerland

Zurich tops the catalog at cost index 131 (NYC = 100) — the most expensive city we track. Mandatory private health insurance (CHF 300-500/month per adult) and high rents drive the bulk of the gap. Compensated by world-leading salaries in finance, pharma, and tech.

What this list doesn't tell you

Expensive doesn't mean unaffordable for everyone — it means the salary required to maintain a given lifestyle is higher. Reverse this list against the salary-by-job pages to see whether your role pays at the tier you'd need.

Related rankings

Cities with the highest quality of life

Catalog ranked by composite Mundevo quality score: 40% safety, 35% healthcare, 25% air quality.

Cities with the best healthcare

Catalog ranked by healthcare quality index. Reflects system capacity, accessibility, and outcomes — not out-of-pocket cost.

Cities with the lowest payroll deduction

Ranked by combined effective income tax + employee-side social security. Lower means a higher take-home from any given gross salary.

Want a different angle? Browse the full /best directory. Or run the numbers for your own city + lifestyle in the salary calculator.