The best and worst cities for expats to live in

Estimates for how many expats there are in the world vary a ton, but one thing is for sure – there are a lot of them. There are many reasons for voluntarily relocating. Based on current trends, it looks like more and more young people are choosing to live so far away from home that they’re crossing borders to do it! According to a 2017 HSBC study, 40% of millennial expats go abroad in search of new challenges. The study’s leader, Alexandra Yanik, says, “Most millennials are balancing the need for a job with an intense wanderlust, and 65% of young professionals are making the two work well together abroad.” They want to see the world, and they want to earn money while doing it.

But where are the best places for expats to live?

According to the InterNations Expat City Ranking list for 2022, three different cities in opposite corners of the world top the bill – Valencia, Spain; Dubai, UAE; and Mexico City, Mexico. Each city has something completely distinct that makes foreigners want to be there. For Valencia, it’s quality of life; for Dubai, it’s easy to deal with authorities and the government when coming in from abroad; for Mexico City, it’s affordable and friendly, although not as safe. Valencia also has great public transportation, access to recreational activities like sports and ranks pretty high in terms of safety.

Other cities near the top of the list are Lisbon, Madrid, Bangkok, Basel, Melbourne, Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

Now, let’s look into the worst cities to live in as an expat. From this ranking, we can see that it includes Johannesburg, South Africa; Frankfurt, Germany; and Paris, France. These cities were ranked pretty low due to low quality of life, difficulty dealing with admin and the government and costliness, respectively.

For this list, InterNations only used 50 cities, though. There are expats all over the world, with so many located in other cities not even mentioned.