It's easy to say COL is innacurate if you're a single person willing to live a frugal lifestyle. These are typically based on average family size, so in the US, that's a family with 2.3 children. I'm not sure what the average family size is in Switzerland.
My point being- I used to be able to save a tremendous amount of money; something like 65% of my after tax income, when I was single. Now that I'm married with two kids, I'm only able to save a much smaller 35%. I still live frugally, however, when you have young kids going to school, it's no longer possible to live like a monk. School is expensive, and kids are expensive to raise.
Cost of living is a very valid metric. At a minimum, it reflects the local property tax rates, which are basically the cost of schools and other government services.
Even so, the way a family with 2.3 children lives can differ significantly between cities. A successful middle-class family with 2 children isn't abnormal if they live in a 2-bedroom apartment in NYC, but they are well outside the norm in most other cities.
My point being- I used to be able to save a tremendous amount of money; something like 65% of my after tax income, when I was single. Now that I'm married with two kids, I'm only able to save a much smaller 35%. I still live frugally, however, when you have young kids going to school, it's no longer possible to live like a monk. School is expensive, and kids are expensive to raise.
Cost of living is a very valid metric. At a minimum, it reflects the local property tax rates, which are basically the cost of schools and other government services.