SUBSCRIBE

The Most Livable Cities in the World for Expats (And Which One Actually Fits You)

A new global index just ranked the world's most livable cities for expats. Here's the breakdown — plus which city actually fits your budget, family, or language situation

Melbourne, Australia, Photographer: f11photo / Shutterstock

In this article:

Best cities for expats who don’t speak the local language

Best cities for expat families

Most affordable livable cities for expats (without sacrificing safety)

Best cities for expat retirees

Best cities for single expats building a new social life

Safest cities for expats

A brand new study just dropped ranking the world’s most livable cities for expats, and it’s the kind of report that’s genuinely useful instead of just another “top 10 dream destinations” list with a stock photo of a beach. Global Citizen Solutions looked at 35 cities across six continents and scored them on the stuff that actually matters when you’re moving your whole life somewhere: cost of living, safety, air quality, healthcare, how easy it is to settle in, English proficiency, and what they call “enhanced mobility” — basically, how much your passport situation opens up once you’re living there.

More than 300 million people now live outside the country they were born in. That’s almost double what it was back in 1990, and it’s not slowing down. Remote workers, retirees, digital nomads, and families chasing a better quality of life are all part of that wave now, not just people getting shipped overseas for a corporate job.

But here’s the thing nobody says out loud in these rankings: “most livable” is a trick question. Most livable for who? A retiree’s dream city looks nothing like what a family with two kids needs, which looks nothing like what a 26-year-old remote worker who doesn’t speak a word of the local language is after. So let’s go through what the study actually found, and then get into the part that matters more — which city fits your specific situation.

So who actually won?

Lisbon took the top spot, and honestly, it makes sense once you see why. It didn’t dominate any one category — it just didn’t have a weak spot. It’s noticeably cheaper than cities like Vienna, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen, English is widely spoken, the air is clean, and it’s safer than a lot of other European cities on the list. On top of that, Portugal offers a few different legal pathways to actually live there long-term, including residency-by-investment and a digital nomad visa.

Amsterdam came in second, and it’s a strong “if you can afford it” pick — high safety, excellent healthcare, clean air, and the best English proficiency of any European city in the study. Between 2015 and 2022, over 70% of all trips in Amsterdam were made by walking, biking, or public transit, so if you’re someone who wants to ditch car ownership entirely, this is about as good as it gets. The catch is cost — Amsterdam’s one of the pricier cities on the list, and making friends apparently takes a little longer than you’d expect for such a famously open city.

Melbourne snagged third and was the only non-European city to crack the top five. It tied for the highest English proficiency score in the whole study (along with Singapore, Auckland, and Vancouver), has some of the cleanest air on the list, and offers genuinely great healthcare. Its one soft spot is safety, which sits a bit lower than the European cities ahead of it.

A few other things worth knowing: Singapore crushed it on “mobility,” which makes sense given that Changi Airport has been voted the world’s best airport something like thirteen times now. Southeast Asia and the Caucasus — think Ho Chi Minh City, Bali, Bangkok, and Tbilisi — dominate when it comes to pure affordability. And Lisbon and Barcelona got specifically called out as the rare cities that genuinely work whether you’re a retiree, a family, or a solo digital nomad, which is a pretty rare combo to pull off.

Okay. Now let’s get into the part that actually applies to you.

Best cities for expats who don't speak the local language

If the idea of trying to argue with a landlord or understand a hospital bill in a language you don’t speak makes you want to cancel the whole move, you’re not alone — this is one of the biggest hidden stressors in relocating, and it’s also one of the easiest things to plan around.

Melbourne, Singapore, Auckland, and Vancouver tied for the highest English proficiency scores in the entire study, so any of those four basically eliminates the language problem from day one. Amsterdam isn’t far behind either — it’s the most English-friendly city in Europe on this list, and honestly, plenty of Dutch under-40s will just default to English the second they hear an accent.

Lisbon also deserves a mention here. English proficiency is high, partly thanks to decades of tourism, and it’s a genuinely easy place to get by without speaking Portuguese, at least at first.

The honest flip side: cities like Tokyo and Seoul score amazingly well on safety and healthcare, but they’re also the lowest on English proficiency among the top 10 in this whole study. That doesn’t mean skip them — it just means go in knowing daily admin (banking, leases, doctor’s visits) is going to take more effort, or budget for translation help and language classes early on.

City Best for Standout strength Honest trade-off English level
Lisbon ★ #1 overall Families, retirees, solo movers — works for almost everyone No weak spot. Cheaper than Vienna, Amsterdam, Copenhagen Not the cheapest option if budget is the only priority High
Amsterdam Car-free living, English speakers who can afford it Best English proficiency in Europe; 70%+ trips walk/bike/transit Among the most expensive cities in the study; social integration is slow High
Melbourne English speakers, clean-air seekers, healthcare-focused movers Tied for highest English score in the study; great healthcare Lower safety score than the European cities ahead of it Highest
Vienna Retirees, families who prioritize infrastructure over social ease 2nd-best healthcare in the study (behind Seoul); more affordable than Amsterdam/Copenhagen Lowest social integration score in the entire 35-city study High
Barcelona Families, solo movers who want community fast Highest social integration of any European city; 26%+ foreign-born population Scores lower on safety than other European top-10 cities Moderate
Singapore Safety-first movers, frequent international travelers Highest mobility/passport score in the study; tied for best English High cost of living; limited personal space Highest
Copenhagen Safety and infrastructure-focused movers with a flexible budget Strong across nearly every category; high mobility score 2nd most expensive city in the top 10; very low social integration High
Seoul Retirees and anyone prioritizing healthcare above all else Best healthcare score in the entire study; 2M+ foreign medical visitors in 2025 Lowest English proficiency in the top 10; weaker air quality Low
Tokyo Safety-focused movers comfortable with a language curve Excellent safety and healthcare; growing, welcoming foreign resident base Lowest English proficiency among top-10 cities Low
Auckland English speakers who want a calmer pace and nature access Tied for best English score; standout air quality Smaller city, fewer career options than bigger hubs Highest
Vancouver English speakers, North Americans wanting institutional familiarity Tied for best English score; multicultural, easy social entry High housing costs relative to local income Highest
San José, Costa Rica Solo movers who want to make friends fast Highest social integration score in the entire 35-city study Trails on healthcare and safety vs. the top of the composite ranking Moderate
Mexico City Solo movers and budget-conscious families wanting fast community Top-5 social integration score; large, established expat network Safety and healthcare scores lag behind top-ranked cities Moderate
Bali Budget-conscious remote workers and digital nomads One of the cheapest options on the list; strong social integration Weaker healthcare and safety infrastructure than top-ranked cities Moderate
Bangkok Budget-conscious movers who also want social ease Affordable + high social integration — a rare combo Safety and healthcare scores below the top of the index Moderate
Ho Chi Minh City The tightest budgets; remote workers and entrepreneurs One of the most affordable cities in the entire study Lower scores on safety and healthcare vs. European cluster Low
Tbilisi Entrepreneurs and digital nomads on a tight budget Among the most affordable cities in the study; growing nomad scene Lower safety and healthcare scores than top-ranked cities Low
Rio de Janeiro Solo movers and social-first relocators Top-5 social integration score in the study Safety scores notably lower than the European cluster Moderate
Panama City / Buenos Aires Budget-conscious movers who still want social ease Low living costs paired with high expat-friendliness scores Weaker performance on safety and healthcare vs. top-ranked cities Moderate
Source: Global Citizen Solutions, "World's Most Livable Cities for Expats" (2026), 35-city index scored on cost of living, safety, air quality, healthcare, ease of settling in, English proficiency, and enhanced mobility. Safety and healthcare carry the highest combined weighting.

Best cities for expat families

Families weighing a move abroad usually care about a slightly different mix than everyone else — safety, healthcare, and how easy it’ll be to actually build a life there, not just visit one.

This is where Lisbon and Barcelona really stand out. The study specifically flags both as rare cities that work simultaneously for families, retirees, and solo professionals — which is a genuinely useful data point, because most cities are good for one of those groups and mediocre for the rest. Barcelona in particular has one of the highest social integration scores of any European city in the study, helped by the fact that over a quarter of its population is foreign-born, plus Spain’s non-lucrative visa makes it accessible even if you’re not working locally.

Vienna and Copenhagen are also worth a look if infrastructure and stability are non-negotiables for your family — Vienna ranks second only to Seoul on healthcare, and Copenhagen scores well across nearly every category. But here’s the honest catch: both cities post the lowest social integration scores in the entire 35-city study. Great hospitals and trains, harder to make friends. If your family’s the type that needs an existing community to plug into quickly, that’s worth weighing seriously before you commit.

Most affordable livable cities for expats (without sacrificing safety)

This is probably the most-searched angle in the whole expat-city conversation, and also where most lists get a little dishonest by just listing the cheapest places on earth without mentioning what you’re trading away.

The study’s affordability leaders are Ho Chi Minh City, Bali, Bangkok, and Tbilisi — all genuinely cheap, all with real, established expat communities, and all well set up for remote work. The catch the report is upfront about: these cities tend to trail behind on safety and healthcare scores compared to the European cluster at the top of the list. That’s not a dealbreaker, it’s just a trade-off you should walk in knowing about rather than discovering later.

If you want a city that splits the difference, Lisbon is genuinely the best answer here too. It’s meaningfully cheaper than Vienna, Amsterdam, or Copenhagen, while still holding solid safety and healthcare scores. It’s not going to be as cheap as Tbilisi or Bali, but you’re not giving up nearly as much in exchange.

Seoul, South Korea, Photographer: CJ Nattanai / Shutterstock

Best cities for expat retirees

Healthcare matters more here than almost anything else, and the study weighs healthcare and safety the heaviest of all seven indicators — which works out nicely if you’re retiring abroad, since that’s exactly what you care about too.

Seoul has the best healthcare score in the entire study, by a wide margin — South Korea pulled in over 2 million foreign medical visitors in 2025 alone, which tells you something about how the system is regarded internationally. Vienna ranks right behind it, second-best in the whole index, and it’s also more affordable than Amsterdam, Copenhagen, or Oslo if you’re comparing within Europe.

Outside the official ranking, Mexico and Malaysia come up constantly in retiree-specific research, even though they’re not part of this particular 35-city study. Mexico’s proximity to the US, lower healthcare costs, and long-established expat communities (San Miguel de Allende, Lake Chapala) make it a perennial favorite for North American retirees specifically. Worth knowing they sit outside this index, but they show up again and again in cost-of-living research aimed at retirees, so they’re not exactly under the radar.

Best cities for single expats building a new social life

If you’re moving solo, the thing that actually determines whether you’re happy six months in usually isn’t the healthcare system — it’s whether you make friends.

And here’s the most counterintuitive finding in the whole study: the cities with the best infrastructure are often the hardest ones to socially break into. Vienna and Copenhagen — both genuinely excellent cities on paper — post the lowest social integration scores of all 35 cities measured. As one of the study’s researchers put it, affordability, social integration, and structural quality rarely show up together in the same city. Efficient and safe doesn’t automatically mean welcoming.

The cities that crush it on social integration specifically are San José (Costa Rica), Mexico City, Bali, Rio de Janeiro, and Bangkok. San José actually leads the entire study on this metric. None of these are chasing the top of the overall ranking — they trade off some safety and healthcare infrastructure for it — but if making friends fast and feeling like you’ve landed somewhere with an open door is your top priority, this is your list.

Safest cities for expats

Since safety is one of the two heaviest-weighted categories in the whole study, it’s worth calling out on its own — though a few of these names are going to look familiar by now.

Amsterdam, Singapore, Tokyo, and Seoul all post strong safety scores, alongside Copenhagen, which scores well here too even with its social integration weak spot. The pattern that keeps showing up: the cities that score best on safety tend to either cost more (Amsterdam, Singapore, Copenhagen) or come with a steeper language curve (Tokyo, Seoul). Worth cross-referencing this list against the affordability and language sections above rather than picking a “safest” city in a vacuum — safety on its own doesn’t tell you whether you can actually afford to live there or talk to your neighbors.

The Takeaway:

The “most livable city” isn’t a fixed answer — it’s just whichever city happens to match what you actually need right now. Lisbon and Barcelona are the rare ones that work across almost every situation, which is exactly why they keep coming up throughout this whole list. But if your priority is hyper-specific — you need to retire near excellent healthcare, or you’re broke but want safety, or you’re moving solo and need friends fast — there’s almost always a better-fit city than whatever’s sitting at #1 on the composite ranking.

Take the table above, be honest with yourself about what you actually care about most, and start there instead of just chasing the top of the list.