The World’s Best City For Expats, And The Worst

Miami is the highest ranked North American city on the list. (Represent)

According to a new survey, three different cities on three separate continents are the best places for expats to live and work.

Spain’s Valencia topped InterNations’ list of Expat Cities for 2022 – with respondents rating high quality of life, public transport and sporting opportunities – continued followed by Dubai, lauded for its welcome to newcomers. Mexico City ranks third in affordability.

The record isn’t as good as Johannesburg, which is at the bottom of the list of 50 strong cities, with respondents saying the South African city is affordable and unsafe. Right ahead are Germany’s Frankfurt and the French capital Paris, both of which score poorly when it comes to affordable housing.

Miami is the highest-ranked North American city on the list, at 12th, with New York at 16th and Toronto at 19th. In the UK, London limps into 40th.

Elsewhere in Asia, Bangkok comes in at sixth place thanks to its low cost of living, Melbourne’s work-life balance has earned it eighth place and Singapore is in the top 10.

InterNations collected information from 11,970 expats living in 181 countries or territories. 50 cities met the sample size requirement with at least 50 participants per destination.

Here’s the full list of the top 10 – with a brief InterNations description of each city’s key voting characteristics:

1. Valencia, Spain: Easy to live, friendly and affordable
2. Dubai, UAE: Great for work and play
3. Mexico City, Mexico: Friendly and Affordable, but Not Safe
4. Lisbon, Portugal: Great climate and quality of life, mediocre job options
5. Madrid, Spain: Great leisure activities, a friendly culture
6. Bangkok, Thailand: Foreigners feel at home despite safety concerns
7. Basel, Switzerland: Foreigners are satisfied with finance, work, quality of life
8. Melbourne, Australia: An easy city to get used to
9. Abu Dhabi, UAE: Great healthcare, no bureaucracy
10. Singapore: Easy management, financial responsiveness, improved career prospects

And the bottom 10:

1. Rome, Italy: Foreigners feel at home despite low quality of life
2. Tokyo, Japan: Difficult to move but high quality of life
3. Vancouver, Canada: House prices are expensive and local residents are not very friendly
4. Milan, Italy: Difficult financial situation, difficult working life
5. Hamburg, Germany: Foreigners here are the saddest, hardest to make friends
6. Hong Kong, China: Annoying work-life and environmental factors
7. Istanbul, Turkey: The worst city to work abroad
8. Paris, France: Top cultural and culinary destinations – if you can afford it
9. Frankfurt, Germany: Struggling with Digitization, Governance and Language
10. Johannesburg, South Africa: The World’s Worst Expat Destination

(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)