Geneva isn’t the most expensive Swiss city to live in now

22 comments
  1. On one hand i’m not surprised that Zürich is expensive as fuck, on the other hand i don’t understand how anyone would want to live there in the first place…

  2. I’m really surprised about Tel Aviv being on the top spot in this category. Is there any specific reason for this? I have never heard about Israel being particularly expensive.

  3. Paris, really? I used to live there and it was nowhere near as expensive as even Lausanne.

    Or is this relative to the average income in each city?

  4. I think you always need to take lists like these with a grain of salt. Yes, Geneva and Switzerland in general is very expensive for some things, but when you take wages into account, things are actually much more affordable than in other major European cities which are nowhere in this list. Based on Tel Aviv I was thinking it might be relative to average wage (Tel Aviv isn’t particularly expensive, but wages are low), but if that were the case probably Swiss cities would be nowhere to be found on this list.

  5. Well, Zurich isn’t only one of the most expensive Metropolis in the World. It also held the record for blow consumption on new years eve several times.

  6. I’d be much more interested to see this as a function of wage. Rents in Geneva are astonishingly cheap compared to Lisbon, Kiev or Milan. IIRC in Kiev 1 month rent is 1 month average wage (look-up the average wage in Geneva, and imagine that would be your rent. That should give you an idea), and Lisbon is not really that different.

    That’s always been my pet peeve about my fellow Swiss, always complaining about the cost. But healthcare aside, Switzerland is cheap. If instead of monetary value you think in terms of time (“how many hours of work do I need to afford X”) or what percentage of your income is necessary to pay for something, we are so amazingly cheap on most things.

    It also helps to hide the true cost of healthcare, IMO. For me personally, I simply can not afford healthcare in CH, period. But yet I find my standart of living pretty good. It may be very bad by many swiss’ standarts, but is very nice from my PoV. However this could come crashing down easily if I get a sudden illness (heart attack, aneurysm, etc), or smth of the sort, on account of the insane costs it would cause.

  7. Imo it still is. The difference from 99 to 103 isnt nearly as big as a gap as the living difference between geneva and zurich. Like a chrome polished sink drain filter, theres a jet d eau streaming right down the middle, pretty to look at, but it just keeps the unwanted waste to not continue inwards. On the other hand zurich is a cleaner city and people are often more respectful and polite. Also more competitive in housing costs since theres a lot of living areas to commute from while being within switzerland. Vaud is still very expensive to live in.

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