The most expensive were Zurich, Geneva and New York City, according to the prices for a standardised basket of 122 goods and services. New York is the third-most expensive, excluding rent, and rises to the top spot when rent is included.
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Wage levels are highest in Zurich, Geneva and Luxembourg and lowest in Kiev, Jakarta and Nairobi. New York comes in at $3,340.
The capital is the fifth most expensive city in the world but only ranks at 13th for gross earnings, UBS Wealth Management said. Fortunately inhabitants are among the most well paid, earning on average around 36 euros per hour.
According to the September 2015 UBS report titled Prices and Earnings, these are the top 10 cities in the world where you can expect to earn big bucks. That is, if you’re in the right field.
Bus drivers in Luxembourg earn more than $85,000 per year, compared with $37,000 for their counterparts in London while shoppers in Zurich have to pay four-and-a-half times more than those in Kiev for the same basket of groceries.
When it comes to purchasing power – the goods and services a family of three can afford on one month’s salary – Tel Aviv is about middle of the list – lower than Dubai, Johannesburg and Copenhagen but higher than Seoul, Athens and Doha.
To buy a 16 gigabyte iPhone 6, an average worker in Tel Aviv would need to put in 75.3 hours. The priciest haircuts are in Oslo, Parisians work the shortest hours, and a Big Mac costs three hours of work in Nairobi but just nine minutes of toil in Hong Kong. Of the U.S. cities in the study, the average worker in Chicago and Los Angeles has the least amount of paid vacation a year at 14 days.
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UBS said that the decision in January by the Swiss National Bank to abruptly abandon its cap of 1.20 francs per euro, leading to a surge in the franc’s value, had hugely altered the indicators. Zurich scored 108-point-seven while Geneva came in at 106-point-one.
