Valencia first: these are the best cities for relocation

Valencia, Dubai and Mexico City are the best cities for relocation, according to the annual ranking of InterNations, the largest online community for relocation issues.

The annual ranking, which includes 50 cities worldwide, is based on a survey in which 11,970 respondents living in 181 countries participated, who were asked to answer questions regarding various aspects of their life in relocation, as well as general questions regarding their gender, age and nationality. The participants were asked about 56 aspects of life in a foreign city and were asked to rate each one on a scale of 1 to 7. These aspects were divided into five categories: quality of life, ease of acclimatization, remote work, the financial situation and essential things for relocation workers such as housing and internet connection.

InterNations is an online community with 4.5 million members living in 420 cities around the world. The community also organizes about 6,000 events and activities per month aimed at helping employees meet new people in the cities where they work and live.

Valencia in Spain was ranked first, partly thanks to cheap public transportation, many opportunities for sports and leisure activities and a high sense of security. The city also ranked first in the quality of life category, and in the cost of living subcategory. However, the city ranked last in the career opportunities subcategory, and 50% of respondents claimed that the local labor market was problematic.

Dubai was ranked second and was defined as a place where it is easy to deal with the local authorities. 88% of the respondents even admitted that they are satisfied with the availability of online government services. Moreover, 81% of the respondents stated that they feel welcome in the principality. Culture, nightlife and the culinary offer were also highly rated.

In third place is Mexico City, which is considered an easy city to acclimate to. 87% of the respondents described the local residents as sociable. The city was ranked first in the category of personal financial situation, and the respondents expressed satisfaction with their financial situation and their work.

Lisbon and Madrid close the top five. Lisbon, in fourth place, is one of the cities with the best ranking in the quality of life index, and relocation workers rated the weather, culture and nightlife particularly favorably. The workers also said they found it easy to navigate the local culture and were satisfied with their social life. Madrid also ranked high in the quality of life index, and in this case too the comfortable weather is one of the reasons for this.

At the top end of the list, Bangkok is also ranked in sixth place thanks to the favorable prices, among other things, in the area of housing. Basel is ranked seventh with relocation workers satisfied with their financial situation and the quality of life offered by the Swiss city, Melbourne is ranked eighth while Abu Dhabi and Singapore close the top ten.

On the other hand, Johannesburg in South Africa was defined as the worst city for relocation. The city scored particularly poorly in the quality of life category. The relocation workers complained about the expensive prices and availability of public transportation, and even stated that they do not feel safe. Criticism was also directed against the local labor market and career opportunities. On the positive side, housing is considered affordable, according to 46% of respondents.

Other cities at the bottom of the ranking include Frankfurt, mainly due to the cost of living, and Paris, where workers complained about the difficulty in finding housing due to the high prices. Overall, 62% described the cost of living as too high. The respondents also described Paris as very unfriendly and the Parisians as unpleasant towards foreigners.

Istanbul is ranked 47th out of 50, followed by Hong Kong, Hamburg, Milan, Vancouver, Tokyo and Rome.