The 10 most expensive cities in the world

• The Economist Intelligence Unit highlighted the most expensive places among 173 cities.
• Zurich surged a few spots in the ranking to tie with Singapore at No. 1, the new report said.
• Geneva, Paris, and San Francisco were among the 10 most expensive cities.

It's expensive to be in Singapore, in part because of clothing and transport costs. Zurich is also expensive, partly from high grocery prices. The two places tied at No. 1 in a ranking of how expensive 173 cities around the world are.

That's all based on a new report from The Economist Intelligence Unit of its Worldwide Cost of Living survey. The survey, which the report notes is "a twice-yearly survey conducted by EIU," compared over 400 individual prices in those cities.

"The worldwide cost of living index assesses a certain number of representative business destinations, amounting to 173 cities in this year's survey," EIU told Business Insider. "Several factors are at play behind the list of cities, such as the city's size and population, economic and public importance, as well as their importance to our clients and subscribers."

The cities were compared to New York City as a base case. That is, New York had an index of 100, and it ended up ranking at No. 3. Geneva had the same index of 100 as New York in the new study.

An EIU article noted that while New York and two other US cities were part of the top 10 most expensive cities based on the cities analyzed, the article stated that "North American cities have, on average, slipped down our cost-of-living ranking."

Singapore was also the most expensive city in the world last year when it tied with New York. The new summary report noted that "Singapore kept its position as the world's most expensive city this year, for the ninth time in 11 years."

Zurich, with an index of 104, rose from No. 6 to tie at No. 1, the report said.

"As our WCOL index relies on converting local-currency prices into US dollars (as a common currency), Zurich's rise partly reflects the strength of the Swiss franc, as well as high prices for groceries, household goods and recreation," the report said.

Hong Kong took the No. 5 spot. Syetarn Hansakul, an EIU senior analyst, said in a recent interview that Singapore and Hong Kong "have always ranked" highly. Hansakul pointed out their size and their appeal to world talent.

Hansakul added "limited space" coupled with "many high-paying professionals" means there's "a certain degree of demand-pull inflation" that can compete "for housing and other resources."

Tel Aviv, Israel, ranked No. 8, same as Copenhagen, Denmark, with an index of 89.

The report noted that the "survey was conducted before the start of the Israel-Hamas war, which has affected the exchange rates in Israel and may have made it harder to procure some goods in Tel Aviv, thereby affecting prices."

Here are the most expensive cities, each with their index noted below from the EIU report.