Geneva: a UN/diplomatic-economy Big Mac in line with Zurich
Geneva runs neck-and-neck with Zurich for the title of most expensive Swiss Big Mac. The driver is different though: Geneva's cost base is shaped by the UN, the Red Cross, the WTO, and a dense expat population earning international-organization salaries. That demand pressure keeps restaurant rents and wages elevated in a city much smaller than Zurich.
For the Big Mac Index, Geneva is the cleanest single-city read on how a service-export economy can sustain very high local prices despite no domestic industrial base. The Geneva-Lausanne spread inside Switzerland is a useful barometer: when international-organization budgets are flush, Geneva edges higher; when budget cuts hit Geneva's expat community, the spread compresses. Watch the comparison through the next UN budget cycle.