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The Forbes article titled The 100 Best Cities In The World To Live, Work And Visit, Rated In A 2025 Resonance Report ranks London first, New York City second, Paris third, Tokyo fourth and Madrid fifth. That list should not be confused with Resonance’s official World’s Best Cities 2025 report: its top five are London, New York City, Paris, Tokyo and Singapore. The two rankings differ at number five, and the Forbes article was published in November 2025, after the official report was announced in December 2024.
The 100 cities in the Forbes article
The table below reproduces the ranking in Laura Begley Bloom’s Forbes article, published November 10, 2025 and updated November 11. It is the article’s list—not the official 2025 report’s top 100. The article gives each city a rank but the source material does not establish a separate score or explain a city-by-city methodology for interpreting rank gaps.
| Rank | City |
|---|---|
| 1 | London, United Kingdom |
| 2 | New York City |
| 3 | Paris, France |
| 4 | Tokyo, Japan |
| 5 | Madrid, Spain |
| 6 | Singapore |
| 7 | Rome, Italy |
| 8 | Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
| 9 | Berlin, Germany |
| 10 | Barcelona, Spain |
| 11 | Sydney, Australia |
| 12 | Los Angeles, California |
| 13 | Seoul, South Korea |
| 14 | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| 15 | Beijing, China |
| 16 | Shanghai, China |
| 17 | Toronto, Canada |
| 18 | São Paulo, Brazil |
| 19 | Hong Kong, China |
| 20 | Istanbul, Turkey |
| 21 | Melbourne, Australia |
| 22 | Bangkok, Thailand |
| 23 | Osaka, Japan |
| 24 | Oslo, Norway |
| 25 | Stockholm, Sweden |
| 26 | Miami, Florida |
| 27 | Vienna, Austria |
| 28 | San Francisco, California |
| 29 | Bengaluru, India |
| 30 | Mexico City, Mexico |
| 31 | Munich, Germany |
| 32 | Dublin, Ireland |
| 33 | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| 34 | Zürich, Switzerland |
| 35 | Chicago, Illinois |
| 36 | Milan, Italy |
| 37 | Lisbon, Portugal |
| 38 | Prague, Czech Republic |
| 39 | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| 40 | Mumbai, India |
| 41 | Vancouver, Canada |
| 42 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| 43 | Warsaw, Poland |
| 44 | Hamburg, Germany |
| 45 | Shenzhen, China |
| 46 | Montreal, Canada |
| 47 | Budapest, Hungary |
| 48 | Brussels, Belgium |
| 49 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| 50 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| 51 | Bogotá, Colombia |
| 52 | Guangzhou, China |
| 53 | Jakarta, Indonesia |
| 54 | Delhi, India |
| 55 | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| 56 | Boston, Massachusetts |
| 57 | Washington, D.C. |
| 58 | Houston, Texas |
| 59 | Auckland, New Zealand |
| 60 | San Jose, California |
| 61 | Helsinki, Finland |
| 62 | Orlando, Florida |
| 63 | Taipei, Taiwan |
| 64 | Frankfurt, Germany |
| 65 | Lima, Peru |
| 66 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| 67 | Seattle, Washington |
| 68 | Perth, Australia |
| 69 | Manchester, United Kingdom |
| 70 | Cape Town, South Africa |
| 71 | Kraków, Poland |
| 72 | Valencia, Spain |
| 73 | Ottawa, Canada |
| 74 | Athens, Greece |
| 75 | Santiago, Chile |
| 76 | Medellín, Colombia |
| 77 | Cologne, Germany |
| 78 | Dallas, Texas |
| 79 | Brisbane, Australia |
| 80 | Hangzhou, China |
| 81 | San Diego, California |
| 82 | Hyderabad, India |
| 83 | Chengdu, China |
| 84 | Denver, Colorado |
| 85 | Calgary, Canada |
| 86 | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates |
| 87 | Austin, Texas |
| 88 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| 89 | Baltimore, Maryland |
| 90 | Stuttgart, Germany |
| 91 | Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| 92 | Lyon, France |
| 93 | The Ruhr, Germany |
| 94 | Busan, South Korea |
| 95 | Düsseldorf, Germany |
| 96 | Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| 97 | Porto, Portugal |
| 98 | Bucharest, Romania |
| 99 | Birmingham, United Kingdom |
| 100 | Doha, Qatar |
Source: Forbes, “The 100 Best Cities In The World To Live, Work And Visit, Rated In A 2025 Resonance Report”, November 10, 2025, updated November 11.
Why the 2025 rankings do not match
The official World’s Best Cities 2025 report names London, New York City, Paris, Tokyo and Singapore as its top five. The Forbes article places Madrid fifth and Singapore sixth. Ipsos announced the official report on December 3, 2024; the Forbes article came nearly a year later and its title uses the same 2025 label. Treat the two as distinct publications rather than combining their ranks.
#1 Best Overall
In the official report, London is first for the tenth consecutive year. Its category placements are first in Lovability, second in Prosperity and third in Livability. Those are standings in the report’s framework, not a claim that London is the best fit for every resident or visitor. See the Ipsos announcement and Resonance’s official 2025 report.
What Resonance means by a “best” city
Resonance’s official benchmark combines three pillars: Livability, Lovability and Prosperity. In broad terms, they organize measures associated with the experience and appeal of a place, including practical conditions, attractions and economic opportunity. The selected factors include business presence, airport connectivity, nightlife and outdoor recreation, alongside online check-ins and social mentions.
Resonance says it chooses factors it associates with attracting people aged 25–44, visitor expenditure and/or business formation. For the 2025 method, it added Price-to-Income Ratio and Healthcare System Index and removed Weather and Safety. The report calls its composite the “Place Power™ Score.” This is Resonance’s benchmarking approach, not a direct measurement of every resident’s quality of life or proof that a particular feature causes a city to succeed.
How the official report is assembled
The official report covers principal cities of metropolitan statistical areas with populations above one million, drawing population references that include Demographia, Eurostat, the U.S. Census and the American Community Survey. It combines core statistics with user-generated information from Google, Tripadvisor and Instagram for experiential factors.
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Resonance and Ipsos also report a perception survey of more than 22,000 people across 30 countries. Respondents answered open-ended questions about where they would most like to live someday, visit in the next 12 to 24 months, and where they believe the best job opportunities are. Open responses allow places to be named without restricting people to a preset list. Resonance says it has excluded all Russian cities from its annual ranking since 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The details above describe the official report’s method; they should not be assumed to explain every editorial choice in the later Forbes article.
For the report’s methodology and full official ranking, consult the 2025 report PDF. Ipsos also summarizes the survey and London’s result in its December 3, 2024 announcement.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to use the list when deciding where to live, work or visit
A high overall rank is a starting point for research, not a personal recommendation. The report’s own pillars suggest a more useful comparison: consider Livability if you are evaluating daily life, Lovability for a city’s attractions and appeal, and Prosperity for economic opportunity. Then check the city-level facts that matter to your plans—such as housing costs, healthcare access, likely earnings, transport, visa or residency rules, and the length and purpose of a visit. A broad city benchmark cannot account for an individual budget, job offer, family needs or preferred lifestyle.
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