Trazee In-Depth: Best and Worst Cities to Live in 2020

The InterNations, a global expat community, released its Expat City Ranking (based on 2019 statistics) detailing the best and worst places to live in 2020. According to the more than 3.5 million members in the group, here are the top five cities to move to this year.

Taipei
For the second consecutive year, Taipei tops the list as the best city to live as an expat. Taiwan’s capital offers high quality of life for expats — according to the survey, almost all expats (98 percent) are satisfied with the local transportation (which easily surpasses the 70 percent global figure). Another important statistic for anyone considering a relocation, 94 percent of those surveyed claim to be happy with the city’s healthcare (again, surpassing the global statistic of 73 percent).

Taipei is also one of the best cities in terms of housing, finances and cost of living. Around seven in 10 expats (71 percent) appreciate the local cost of living and feel satisfied with their financial situation.

“The cost of living in Taiwan is cheaper compared to Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong, for example,” said an expat from India. “And Taiwan’s health insurance and safety are what make it attractive to me.”

Kuala Lumpur
Ranked second on the list, Kuala Lumpur is one of the world’s easiest to settle into as an expat. According to the survey, 75 percent of expats feel at home in their new city and 69 percent are happy with their social life.

Another important aspect of relocating, most expats find the city easy to live in, including 92 percent who find the city accessible even without speaking the local language.

“It is easy to blend in with the culture, the food, and the people,” explained an expat from India, “and the language is not a problem if one can speak English.”

Ho Chi Minh City
No. 3 on the list, Ho Chi Minh City received top marks in nearly every aspect of the survey, except for the Quality of Urban Living Index (ranked 63^rd in that aspect). With 87 percent of expats claiming the city is easy to find housing in and 77 percent reporting they feel happy with their financial situation, it’s easily a top choice among relocating individuals. Possible most important in the survey, the city tops the list for Local Cost of Living Index.

Singapore
Compared to all Asian cities in the Expat City Ranking, Singapore stands out for safety. So much so, literally every expat surveyed rated their personal safety positively at 100 percent.

Another top-charting characteristic of Singapore, but on the negative side keeping the city’s ranking from top three, more than half of survey participants (52 percent) are unhappy with the high cost of living.

“The high costs of basic needs such as healthcare makes it difficult, as well as the high transport costs when traveling by car or taxi” said a Swiss expatriate. “I feel strong pressure at work, and everything is planned and pre-shaped.”

Montréal
Maybe not No. 1 in the world, but first among Canadian cities, Montréal makes the top five on the Expat City Ranking survey. Montréal is considered the best Canadian city in the Urban Work Life and 10th in the world. Ranked 11^th for Local Cost of Living and eighth for Finance & Housing, Montreal is not a bad place to call home.

When asked about their favorite aspect of relocating to Montréal, one Dutch expat claimed “living accommodation” as the best aspect of living in the city. One American expat claims the best aspect of living in the Canadian city is its “affordability.”

Back to the statistics, Montréal ranks 33rd in expat satisfaction for residential financial situations — 61 percent of surveyed expats. Comparatively, this ranking is high when considering Toronto (ranked 79th) and next on the list (ranked 80^th ) is Vancouver — actually a bottom five city for expats.

Read the full list of cities for expats, including all the statistics and remaining five on the top 10 locales for relocation.