Forbes España: Valencia, the Best City in the World to Live In, According to a Global Survey

By Ana Ortega

Each year, InterNations surveys over 15,000 expats from around the world to determine the best and worst places to live.

The company recently revealed its latest 2020 Expat City Ranking, which ranks 66 cities worldwide by analyzing factors such as work-life balance, quality of urban life, and local cost of living.

According to InterNations, Valencia (Spain) is the best city in the world to live in. When rating the city, respondents considered affordable and easily accessible healthcare, abundant leisure options, good weather, and low housing costs.

Alicante, Málaga, and Madrid: 2nd, 6th, and 9th Place

Globally, Spain has proven to be a dominant country. Of the top ten cities in the ranking, four are Spanish: Valencia (1st), Alicante (2nd), Málaga (6th), and Madrid (9th).

Only Barcelona ranked lower, occupying the 25th spot out of 66. “The results from Spain clearly show that expats enjoy life in Spain,” said Mal Zeeck, founder of InterNations. “What the five cities have in common are good to excellent results in the Settling In and Quality of Urban Living Indexes,” Zeeck concluded.

Rome, Milan, Paris, and Dublin Among the 10 Worst

At the other end, the ten worst cities in the world to live in are led by Salmiya (Kuwait). Respondents criticized the difficulties in settling down, language barriers, and low job opportunities.

This list includes four European cities: two Italian, Rome (65th of 66) and Milan (63rd of 66); the French capital, Paris (61st of 66), and the Irish capital, Dublin (58th of 66).

All of them seem to fail in the same areas: high housing costs and difficulties in finding employment.

San Francisco or Los Angeles in the United States also did not fare well in the ranking. However, New York has moved up the list. Last year, it was ranked as the ninth worst city to live in – 74th out of 82 – but this year it is positioned at number 34.

As for the United States as a whole, the country also performed better on this year’s list. “If we look at the national context of the Expat City Ranking, the United States ranks 27th out of 58 countries in the 2020 Expat Insider survey, which is a 20-spot improvement from 47th out of 64 countries in 2019,” Zeeck stated.

This survey paints Spain in a very favorable light, although it was conducted in March 2020, before COVID-19 entered our lives.