Top 10 most expensive cities in the world of 2025 list: With a global trade war, high geopolitical instability, and declining consumerism, in its Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2025 Swiss wealth management group Julius Baer presents a list of the top 10 most expensive cities in the world where the wealthy can live the good life.
According to the report on July, the top three cities have not been changed, although they were ranked in a different order.
Singapore has been recently declared as the most expensive city in the world and this is the third year in a row that the city has scooped third position.
Previously viewed as a preferred city among the rich based on their business premises, cosmopolitan living and connectivity across the world, London has risen to the second position.
It has relegated Hong Kong, which lures off high-net-worth persons (HNWIs) because of its special tax breaks and gilded investment climate, to the third position.
Bangkok and Tokyo are two Asian cities and they have done the greatest jumps in terms of ranking in the report moving 6 notches up to be ranked 11 th and 17 th most expensive cities respectively.
This year, Dubai has returned to the top ten list improving by five positions, with New York as the only American city to be included in the list.
The Shanghai, the Chinese city that formerly occupied the top in the ranking, experienced a mass reduction in ratings, falling out of the fourth spot to the sixth in 2025.
On the other hand, the County of Sao Paulo in Brazil that was ranked on 9 has been ranked as 16 th in the world after falling 7 names in 2025.
What is the 20 th ranked Indian expensive city?
The 20 th place goes to Mumbai, the city of the financial capital of India, which has not lost its position of last year.
Mumbai has been ranked the least among the APAC cities based on its growing role as an economic giant in the world and the soaring prices both in the local currency and in USD.
According to the report, it is still relatively affordable to the majority of it in the index specifically the hospitality and travel.
According to the report that evaluates the cost of luxury goods and services among the people with high-net-worth or the HNWIs, what the report shows is that Singapore has maintained its title of being the most expensive city in the world over the past three years. London is placed secondly now beating Hong Kong that has been pushed to position three. Monaco and Zurich have also made the top five which points to the prevalence of European established wealth centers.
The 2010 index indicates considerable changes in Asia with Bangkok and Tokyo improvising by six ranks and occupying 11 th and 17 th positions respectively. The city of Dubai has also not been left behind as it has registered a sharp growth by soaring five positions to position seven. New York is the only American metropolis in the top ten of the world, and the fall of Shanghai, which is no longer ranked first, but the sixth, in 2025 has indicated the re-optimization of the luxury expenditure trends in China, according to Moneycontrol.
The city has retained its 20 th position on the global ranking, creating it the most cost-effective city on the Asia-Pacific region to consumers with a high net worth. The report is based on the fact that in Mumbai, in spite of the booming economic growth of India and increasing prices, luxury experiences are relatively available, especially in hospitality and travel. Such affordability relative to major Asian financial centres makes the city an attractive investment to both the international HNWIs to experience premium services at a cheaper price.
The second position of London has been credited to the rising costs of the personal education and air travel in the business class. The city has also been transformed in the luxury front due to policy changes that have affected the non-domiciled residence policy. Even though Slumped to number three, Hong Kong remains appealing to the rich operating on incentives tax schemes among other factors in its investment incentive program and strong investment environment backed up with new investment-in-exchange-residency schemes. Dubai has been increasing its attraction to the millionaires, and this is evidenced by the high rate of its rise, which is enhanced by the golden visa and zero income tax regime.
Sao Paulo, conversely, has experienced one of the most dramatic downfalls this year as it has dropped seven places to position 16 th in the world ranking.
The index shows the different luxury cost loads in different cities Singapore is the most expensive city in terms of cars, designer handbags; London is the most expensive in terms of LASIK, MBA and private schooling; Hong Kong takes the top spot in terms of legal services and Monaco has the highest cost of property in the world.
It is in this context of increased global cost of luxury and changing political settings that the stable positioning of Mumbai indicates a value differentiation. Although it is not the most affordable of all categories, its status can be attributed to the harmonious relationship between economic opportunities and relatively afforded luxury, which makes the Indian financial hub appear even more expensive in an already more expensive world.
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