$6 for a Coke. $2,600 for an iPhone: Here's where everyday items cost the most.

13 hours ago 5

Patrons sit at outdoor café tables under large white umbrellas in front of a Sprüngli storefront.

A Pepsi in Zurich. A pack of cigs in Sydney. A gym membership in San Fransciso.

Around the world, the costs of everyday purchases are reaching new highs.

A new report from the Deutsche Bank Research Institute compared the prices of more than a dozen everyday items across 69 cities and tracked how much they've increased over the past 12 years.

The researchers used data from the crowdsourced platform Numbeo and cross-referenced it with other sources.

Switzerland is home to the two most expensive cities in the world, Zurich and Geneva. The two cities consistently ranked among the priciest for a coffee, a cab ride, a pair of jeans, and a can of Coke. That said, the residents also earned some of the world's highest salaries. They also topped the rankings for disposable income after taxes and rent, with a couple renting a three-bedroom apartment left with more than $10,000 a month.

The prices reflect the Swiss franc's strength over several decades, Jim Reid, the global head of macro research and thematic strategy for Deutsche Bank Research Institute, told Business Insider.

New York and San Francisco, long among the most expensive cities in the US, ranked among the top 10 priciest in many categories.

But America's relative dominance has faded somewhat as foreign investment — which drives up currency values and can cause inflation — has slowed.

"The geopolitical world is getting more challenging, and people don't want all of their eggs in one basket," Reid said.

An outlier, Tokyo stands out for its low prices. Renting a three-bedroom apartment in the Japanese capital costs less than a third of what it does in New York, and a McDonald's meal is less than a quarter of what it is in Tel Aviv. It's the cheapest place in the world to buy an iPhone.

"Another year of yen depreciation just catapulted Tokyo into the realm of being astonishingly cheap for such a developed market city," Reid said.

Here's where everyday items cost the most in 2026 — and how much you'll pay for them, on average.

Cappuccino: Zurich, $7.13

Crowded outdoor café terrace at Schifflände-Platz with diners, trees, bicycles, and striped awnings.

A cup of coffee in Zurich costs nearly 40% more than it did 10 years ago. It's the only city where a cappuccino tops $7.00 — making it a couple of dollars more than a three-course meal in Jakarta. Authentic cappuccinos are among the cheapest; it costs $2.24 in Rome and $2.18 in Milan.

iPhone: Turkey, $2,592 for an iPhone 17 Pro

Smartphone weather screen shows Ankara at -9° at night, with a blurred illuminated monument and buildings behind it.

Buying an iPhone in Turkey will cost you more than twice as much as in the US, reflecting high taxes and the lira's decline. At $1,121 a pop, Japan ranks as the cheapest place in the world to buy an iPhone.

The device "has become one of our most reliable cross-economy price comparisons," the report says, due to Apple's central pricing strategy. Any differences reflect taxes, tariffs, distribution costs, and currency effects.

Pack of cigarettes: Sydney, $44.50

Cigarette packs with graphic health warnings are displayed on retail shelves with price labels.

Cigs in Australia will cost you, with Marlboros exceeding $40 per pack in Sydney and Melbourne. That's more than double the $19 in New York and twenty times the $2.1 in Cairo. The high price is the result of Australia's liberal use of sin taxes on products like alcohol and tobacco; with regular tax hikes, the cost of a pack has more than doubled over the past decade.

Pair of jeans: Geneva, $141

A tram travels along a busy shopping street lined with historic buildings, storefronts, pedestrians, and overhead wires.

A pair of jeans — think Levi's 501, not designer — costs $141 in Geneva, nearly twice as much as in New York. Denim is cheapest in Delhi, where a pair costs $24.

Bottle of wine: Singapore, $23.20

Rows of wine bottles line retail store shelves with promotional shelf signs for wine club discounts.

Thanks to a volume-based alcohol tax, a mid-tier bottle of wine in Singapore will cost you. Still, that's not much more than in many other expensive cities; a similar bottle costs $20 in New York and about $18 in Oslo. For a cheap bottle, head to Rome, where a bottle costs $4.60.

A Coke (or Pepsi): Zurich, $6.03

A Coca-Cola glass bottle stands on a bottling line with additional bottles blurred in the background.

A 0.33-liter bottle of Coke or Pepsi — the small glass ones common overseas, or the size of a can in the US — exceeds $6 in only one market: Zurich. In most markets, a soda of that size costs $1 or $2, though in Cairo, the least expensive market, it's only $0.38.

McDonald's combo meal: Tel Aviv, $20.90

McDonald's storefront with Hebrew signage, golden arches logos, pedestrians, a parked car, and street signs outside.

A McDonald's meal in Tel Aviv may be fast, but it's not cheap. At about $21, a combo meal costs more than a sit-down, three-course meal for two in Bangalore. Prices in Tel Aviv have skyrocketed over the past decade due to the strong performance of the Israeli shekel, booming tech and defense industries, and regional supply chain disruptions.

Movie ticket: Zurich and Geneva (tied), $24.90

Ornate theater filled with attendees during a ZURICH FILM FESTIVAL Award Night presentation.

Going to the movies costs nearly $25 in Switzerland's biggest cities, and that's before popcorn and a soda. New York's not far behind at $22.50, a 50% increase from 2016. You could buy seven movie tickets in Cairo for the cost of one in these markets.

A beer: Dubai, $13.60

A person in a red jersey pours beer from a Budweiser tap into a branded plastic cup.

An imported bottle of beer at a restaurant in Dubai costs more than seven times as much as a similar bottle in China. In both Dubai and Doha, the $13-plus price of a beer is due to high alcohol taxes.

Three-course meal for two: Zurich, $149

Melted cheese covers sliced potatoes on a pink plate with pickles and small onions on a wooden table.

It's hard to be a cheap date in Zurich, where a three-course meal for two at a mid-tier restaurant costs solidly in the three figures. Prices in this category are up nearly everywhere, reflecting rising food prices and growing wages for service staff.

Gym membership: San Francisco, $136 a month

Rows of cardio machines fill a gym while a person sits on a stationary bike.

In San Francisco, where longevity reigns supreme, a gym membership averages $136 a month, $21 more than in New York. Prices have outpaced those in other cities, more than doubling in the past decade.

Taxi ride: Zurich, $32.00

Yellow TAXI roof sign on a car with a blue-and-white tram and city street in the background.

A five-kilometer taxi ride in Zurich costs $32, 23 times as much as the same length trip in Cairo. The Swiss city is the only one where that short cab ride exceeds $30; local public transport is much cheaper — $5.71 one-way — yet is still the most expensive in the world.

Internet: Dubai, $94.70 a month

Person in white traditional Gulf clothing uses a smartphone beside a walkway with blurred Expo 2020 UAE signage.

Monthly internet bills are highest in the UAE's Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where 60 Mbps-plus plans with unlimited data cost $94.70 and $89.70 a month, respectively. Connectivity in India, Russia, and China is relatively cheap, bottoming out at $7.30 a month in Delhi.

Rent: New York, $4,285 a month for a one-bedroom apartment

Historic multi-story apartment building facades with black metal fire escapes line an urban street.

A one-bedroom apartment in New York is more expensive than anywhere in the world — by far. Monthly rent for a unit in the heart of the Big Apple is 42% higher than that of a unit in Zurich, the closest non-US city, and has increased nearly 50% over the past decade. Over the 14 years the report has been published, New York has consistently ranked in the top three.