[News] Survey Ranks The World’s Best And Worst Cities To Live (The U.S. Did Surprisingly Well)

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Every year, InterNations—the world’s largest expat community with around 4 million members—polls more than 15,000 expats around the globe to find out the best and worst places to live. The company recently revealed its latest Expat City Ranking 2020, which ranks 66 cities worldwide by analyzing factors such as work life, the quality of urban living and the local cost of living. Valencia, Spain is named the best city in the world to live, while Salmiya, Kuwait, is the worst-rated city.

And here’s the good news: On the latest list, the U.S. fared a bit better than last year, when three cities in the United States ranked among the 10 worst places to live, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. This year, New York City escaped the bottom of the list. Last year, it was the ninth worst city to live, placing 74 overall out of 82 cities. But on the latest list, out of 66 cities, New York City went up a number of slots, ranking 34th.

Granted, comparing the lists from year to year isn’t exactly comparing apples to apples. For a city to be listed in the overall ranking, a sample size of at least 50 survey participants per destination is required. While last year, 82 cities—including seven U.S. cities—met this requirement and made the list, this year there were only 66 cities ranked, and New York City was the only place in the United States that made the list. Plus, 20 cities that ranked ahead of New York last year are not included in the Expat City Ranking 2020 as they did not meet the minimum requirement of 50 survey respondents. 

Moreover, the data was collected in March 2020, just before Covid-19 turned into a global pandemic.

But still, there are takeaways. “We see some actual improvements in New York City’s performance, such as in the Urban Work Life and Getting Settled Indices,” says Malte Zeeck, founder and co-CEO of InterNations. “For example, expats describe the people generally friendlier towards foreign residents: 74% say that in 2020, compared to 64% in 2019.”

In addition, 57% of respondents now say that they find it easy to make friends in New York, which is 13 percentage points higher than last year. In terms of urban work life, expats are also more satisfied with their jobs—73% this year, compared to 61% last year. And 66% are happy with their work-life balance, compared to 41% last year. Some downsides for NYC: The city now ranks among the bottom five worldwide in the Local Cost of Living Index (63rd) and is last worldwide for the affordability of medical care (66th).

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When it comes to the United States as a whole, the country performed better on this year’s list, too. “If we look at the nationwide context of the Expat City Ranking, the USA comes in 27th out of 58 countries in the Expat Insider 2020 survey—it has therefore climbed up 20 ranks from 47th out of 64 countries in 2019,” says Zeeck.

One reason for this is based on a change in the methodology of the survey: In 2020, the Family Life Index is not included in the Expat Insider survey. “The USA has traditionally performed badly in this index due to expats’ low satisfaction with childcare and education options, their lack of affordability, and additional concerns about children’s health and safety,” says Zeeck.

In the other indices, the respondents’ opinion on the U.S. has not changed all that much. “The country has improved somewhat in the Ease of Settling In and the Working Abroad Indices, though,” says Zeeck. “For example, it comes in first worldwide this year in the Career Prospects & Satisfaction subcategory, which has always been one of its strong points but never made it to number one before.”

Globally, Spain proved to be a dominating force this year with its cities performing remarkably well: Out of the five cities that made it into the ranking, four are among the top 10 cities worldwide. These include Valencia (in the #1 spot), Alicante (2nd), Málaga (6th) and Madrid (9th). Only Barcelona is further down in the results, ranking 25th out of 66 cities. “Spain’s performance makes it clear that expats enjoy life in Spain,” says Zeeck. “What all five cities have in common are good to excellent results in the Getting Settled and Quality of Urban Living Indices.”

Read on for the list of the 10 best and the 10 worst places to live. You can view the complete list here, along with comments from survey respondents.