Networking service InterNations has conducted Expat Insider 2016 survey with 14 thousand respondents representing 174 nationalities and 191 countries reviewed cities in a number of categories, such as quality of life, personal finance, working abroad, settling in, career prospects, attitude of the local population, working hours, and even weather.
At least 50 respondents were required for a city to feature in the ranking, but quite a few exceed this minimum requirement by far, with nearly 400 participants in one destination.
Among the 35 cities analyzed, Melbourne turns out to be the favorite location for expats.
Australia’s second-most populous city takes poll position in the ranking because 79 percent of expats rated work-life balance positively, which is higher than global avegare of 60 percent. 71 per cent of expats in Melbourne rating their overall job satisfaction positively. Also availability of leisure activities helped push the city to the top of the charts with a 91 percent positive rating making the city’s rating 19 percent higher that global average.
The fourth biggest city in the US, Houston came in second, thanks to the relatively low cost of living and coming first place in the subindex Ease of Settling in. The cost of living and state of personal finances of foreigners living there are rated highly by expats, ranking fifth and seventh, respectively, in both of these categories.
The Spanish capital is on the third spot in the rankings mainly due to expats feeling welcome there and finding it easy to make friends, wining the most votes in both categories. Madrid is also a top choice for many expats because of its “comparatively” low cost of living, with 72 of the respondents rating this factor positively, much higher than the global average of 48 per cent.
Dusseldorf, Germany; Singapore; Vienna; Munich; Sydney; Mexico City and Toronto round out the top ten best cities for living abroad.