The city of Valencia is constantly winning accolades that reflect its welcoming and friendly nature. This time it is the InterNations Expat City community that has crowned the capital of the Turia River the best city in the world for expats to live and work in, a nomination which has been echoed by prominent international media outlets such as Forbes and Bloomberg.
In this ranking, Valencia finished ahead of major world capitals such as Dubai and Mexico City, and in Europe it beat cities such as Lisbon and Madrid.
To compile this list, InterNations surveyed nearly 12,000 people of 177 nationalities from 181 countries to share what it is like to live and work in a foreign country. Their responses were used to establish an index based on their satisfaction across several key aspects, including ease of settling in, quality of life and cost of public transport.
Valencia topped the list for being a liveable, friendly and affordable city. According to InterNations, expats “describe public transport as affordable and love the great opportunities for recreational sports”. In addition, 92% of respondents say they feel safe in the city, compared to the city average of 81%.
When it comes to the ease of settling in, respondents say they “feel at home and are happy with their social life”. They also rate positively the cost of living in the city and how it affects their personal finance index.
This recognition for the capital of the Valencian Community comes just a few months after it was named the healthiest city in the world to live in by the British platform Money.co.uk, an accolade it has won for the second year in a row.
Best and worst European cities for expatriates
Lisbon, Madrid and Basel are the other three European cities in the top 10 best cities for expats. The Portuguese capital is in fourth place, followed by Madrid, and Basel is seventh.
Five European capitals find themselves at the bottom of the ranking of worst destinations. The worst city in Europe is Frankfurt, placed 49th in the ranking, due to its poor administrative and digital services. In addition, expats consider it to be an expensive and unwelcoming city. Paris scored poorly for its high cost of living. Also in the top 10 worst destinations are Hamburg, Milan and Rome.
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