Top 10 Most Expensive Cities in the World (2025 Edition)

If you’ve hit the jackpot — whether that’s via fifty20, the lottery or a suspiciously successful crypto investment — you may be wondering where to spend your dosh in style. Maybe you’re after a new pied-à-terre, or just keen to sample where the high life costs the highest?

Here’s our definitive list of the most expensive cities in the world as of 2025. Some may surprise you. Others won’t — but try not to flinch when you see how much a flat white costs.

10. 🇯🇵 Nagoya, Japan

The quietly expensive underdog

You’ve probably heard of Tokyo and Osaka, but Nagoya, Japan’s fourth-largest city, is quietly climbing the expense ladder. Tightly packed, fiercely industrious, and the heart of Japan’s automotive industry (hello, Toyota HQ), Nagoya is a place where demand far exceeds space.

Everything costs more — housing, utilities, even a decent parking space can run you thousands a year. There’s a subtle wealth here too, with traditional tea houses rubbing shoulders with ultra-modern tech hubs and Michelin-starred sushi spots.

Don't come expecting bling — Nagoya is understated luxury, worn behind closed doors and clean white facades.

9. 🇭🇰 Hong Kong

Skyscrapers, shopping, and sky-high prices

Still one of the world’s premier finance hubs, Hong Kong remains relentlessly expensive. With land as scarce as a quiet corner in Mong Kok, space is sold by the inch — quite literally. A modest 2-bedroom flat in Central can set you back £5 million, if you're lucky.

But Hong Kong is more than just overpriced housing. It's a fusion of British colonial history and modern Chinese ambition, where you can sip vintage Krug on the 118th floor of the Ritz-Carlton, or blow six figures on a handbag at the Landmark mall.

Want a deal? The only thing that comes cheap is the tram.

8. 🇹🇩 N'Djamena, Chad

Oil money and extremes in contrast

It’s not glamorous, but it is expensive — N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, is proof that scarcity breeds cost. Due to its remote location and logistical nightmares, even basic goods like bottled water or petrol command outrageous prices.

The city has boomed thanks to oil exports, with a new elite class of politicians and business moguls driving around in G-Wagens while many citizens still live in poverty.

Expats in particular face astronomical living costs, with luxury compounds charging London prices for Lagos amenities. It’s expensive — but not necessarily luxurious.

7. 🇸🇬 Singapore

Luxury, order, and a skyline like no other

A glittering testament to what efficiency (and a tiny bit of authoritarianism) can achieve, Singapore is sleek, stylish — and seriously expensive. Whether you're buying property in Orchard Road, clubbing at Marina Bay Sands, or simply trying to get a car (with COE licenses costing more than the car itself), you're going to pay dearly for paradise.

It’s also incredibly livable — safe, clean, with an excellent health system and global schools. And don’t be fooled by its size: with superyachts docked offshore and Ferraris prowling the CBD, this island nation is dripping with wealth.

6. 🇨🇭 Zurich, Switzerland

Clean, calm, and crushingly costly

If you like your cities quiet, organised, and stupefyingly expensive, then Zurich is your dream destination. Switzerland’s largest city is a playground for bankers, hedge fund managers, and crypto billionaires hiding in plain sight.

Everything here is top-tier: watches, chocolates, suits, skincare, and services — but you’ll pay handsomely for the privilege. A pint of beer will set you back £9, and that’s before you realise tipping isn’t even required.

Zurich may not shout about its wealth, but rest assured — the wealth is very much there, it’s just wearing Loro Piana instead of Louis Vuitton.

5. 🇺🇸 New York City, USA

The Big Apple bites back

Yes, it’s still here — and yes, it’s more expensive than ever. With sky-high real estate, endless tipping culture, and a bagel that now costs more than a full English, New York City remains a badge of financial pride (and possibly financial ruin).

From Tribeca to the Upper East Side, Manhattan’s elite live in private doorman palaces atop towers with views to match their net worth. Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s gentrification wave has pushed even hipsters into seven-figure mortgages.

But as they say: if you can make it here… you probably already have a trust fund.

4. 🇰🇷 Seoul, South Korea

The luxury boom you didn’t see coming

South Korea’s capital is now Asia’s fastest-rising luxury city. The tech explosion, the K-pop empire, and a global obsession with Korean beauty and fashion have all driven up costs. Seoul’s Gangnam district is now more expensive per square metre than London, with supercars, crypto whales and socialites cruising the neon-lit streets.

Want a Birkin? Get in line. Want to rent an apartment in Itaewon? Hope your lottery numbers were strong.

Seoul is the future of urban wealth — young, fast, fashionable, and fierce.

3. 🇬🇧 London, UK

The posh paradox

London remains a city of extremes — a place where you can buy a £150 coffee table book on ‘modest living’ in a £12 million Chelsea flat. Property prices are still astronomical, especially in Belgravia, Mayfair, and anything ending in “-shire terrace.”

Throw in skyrocketing utilities, fine dining that costs a mortgage payment, and a culture where “just popping out for a drink” means £60 minimum, and it's easy to see why London’s elite have long fled to Monaco — but kept their Kensington penthouse.

It’s rainy. It’s expensive. It’s fabulous. It’s London.

2. 🇨🇭 Geneva, Switzerland

Small city, large wallet

Another Swiss entry, Geneva is the kind of place where you never see the money — but you feel it in the air. Home to more private banks, watchmakers, and global organisations than any city its size deserves, Geneva makes luxury feel clinical.

A single-bedroom apartment can cost more than a house in the English countryside, and eating out — even at humble brasseries — often comes with a four-figure wine list.

The backdrop of Lake Geneva and the snow-capped Alps, though? That’s priceless.

1. 🇲🇨 Monaco

The billionaire’s sandbox

Of course, Monaco takes the crown. Technically a city-state, it’s less “city” and more ultra-exclusive members’ club. With no income tax, it has long been the residence of choice for F1 drivers, fashion magnates, crypto kings, and vaguely sinister businessmen with yachts called No Regrets.

A single square metre of real estate can exceed £50,000, making even the tiniest apartment a multimillion-pound affair. Add in the designer boutiques, 3-star Michelin restaurants, helicopter taxis, and a local car park that looks like the Monaco Grand Prix grid, and you’ve got the most expensive city on earth — by a mile.

In Monaco, wealth isn’t just normal — it’s expected.

💼 Honorable Mentions

These rising stars didn’t make the cut (yet), but watch this space in 2026:

Tel Aviv, Israel – climbing fast due to tech and real estate
San Francisco, USA – bouncing back post-pandemic thanks to AI startups

Oslo, Norway – quietly creeping into top 15 due to energy wealth and green innovation