Monaco Was Just Named the Most Expensive City in the World

There are plenty of places to move to if you really want to stretch your dollar during retirement, or if you want to be a digital nomad. However, if you're someone who is absolutely swimming in cash (in this economy, no less), then the newly minted World's Most Expensive City may be for you.

Every year, Henley & Partners, a company that helps people understand their options for residence and citizenship by investment (in partnership with global wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth), which tracks global wealth migration trends between countries and cities, released its World Wealthiest Cities Report. The team creates its list of the most expensive spots around the globe by digging into New World Wealth's exclusive wealth migration data and Henley & Partners’ “pioneering intelligence on investment migration trends,” which the two companies say offers “unparalleled insights into the global movements and preferences of high-net-worth individuals and their families.” This includes more than a decade of research by both firms, ensuring a rather robust data set. 

The report breaks out into several lists, including the top 50 cities for millionaires, the world's fastest-growing wealth hubs, and one that caught our eye—the most expensive cities in the world, which, according to the 2025 report, is Monaco.

“Monaco, arguably the world’s top safe-haven for the super-rich, where the average wealth exceeds $20 million, is also the top-ranked city in the world on a wealth per capita basis,” the report said. “Over 40 percent of the Mediterranean principality’s residents are millionaires—the highest ratio of any city globally.”

But what specifically makes it the most expensive city in the world is the fact that prices for a 100 to 200 square meter (that's about 1,076 to 2,152 square feet) apartment “regularly exceed $38,800 per square meter.” That means that a 1,000-square-foot apartment is going for a cool $3.88 million in Monaco.

Unsurprisingly to anyone who has looked at real estate in New York City lately, the Big Apple ranked as the second-most expensive place in the world, with the average “price of prime real estate being $27,500 per square meter.” New York is followed by Hong Kong at $26,300, London at $24,000, and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in France, rounding out the top five at $21,200 per square meter, respectively. And this year, Paris took over the sixth-place spot thanks to its $20,400 per square meter average.

“In fact, France boasts the most cities/towns (six including Paris, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Nice, Cannes, Antibes, and Èze) on this year’s World’s Most Expensive Cities list followed by the U.S.,” the report said, noting New York City, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, and Miami Beach all made the list.

So yes, if you've all that money lying around, or you have it in a big vault swimming pool Scrooge McDuck style, then please go buy something in Monaco. And invite us over.