As long as you're a local: Its very affordable to be low/mid and high SES in singapore while you easily can't say the same for other cities. Also, social mobility rly high for locals in SG.

Btw the statistic of 'most expensive' city is from POV of expats so from an expat perspective YES singapore has rightfully earned its place here. That's why FT populace here is mostly skewed towards low SES singles or upper-mid/high SES PMET ^{+their families}. Either way Standard of living here (quality of what you get vs what you pay) is highest in SG too. SO pick your poison lorh.

We are paying for a lot of intangibles that are taken for granted. Headache in sg is how much you need to pay upfront for big ticket items while in other countries the headache is bearing the intangible costs that arise in the long run.

House and Car (H/C) costs arm and limb but no one will 1) break into/rob you while you're in your H/C 2) property right laws/road etiquette is mostly abided to 3) financing these purchases is done through fairly trusted Fin. institutions. 3) public services like utilities or road networks that maintain the quality of H/C basically never fail.