Valencia Rated Best City In The World For Expats
Spain News
Published: 30 November 2022 18:35 CET
Valencia has been named the best city in the world for foreign residents in the latest Internations survey for 2022.
The city came 1st out of 50 with 11,970 expats surveyed, representing 177 nationalities and 181 countries.
Valencia beat Dubai into second place and these two were followed by Mexico City and Lisbon with Spain’s capital Madrid taking 5th spot. Spain’s other big city Barcelona also fared reasonably well finishing in 14th position.
To identify both the best and worst cities to live in, respondents were asked to vote on 56 different aspects of living abroad on a scale of one to seven.
Categories included quality of life, ease of settling in, personal finance, and safety among others.
So why did Valencia come out on top?
The Internations report said that Valencia is a ‘Livable, Friendly and Affordable’ city and this was reflected in the overall scores from respondents.
Valencia rated particularly well in the Quality of Life Index where it came in 1st. It also ranked highly for affordable transportation with 85% of those surveyed claiming to be very happy with the city's transport options compared to 70% globally.
We all know that the great year-round weather makes Spain the perfect destination for those looking to get out and about and this was shown in the Sports and Recreational category where 92% of respondents said they were very happy with the activities on offer in Valencia.
Valencia was also adjudged to be an extremely safe place to live with 92% of those surveyed rating the city as safe.
When it comes to personal finance, the city performed extremely well according to expats with 83% saying they were very happy with their financial outlook placing it 1st out of the 50 cities. When it comes to the cost of living, respondents said they had more than enough disposable income to give them a comfortable lifestyle in Valencia.
Valencia did exceptionally well in the housing category coming in 3rd overall and ranking in top spot for affordable housing.
As is the case with any city, there are always one or two categories where they don’t perform so well. For Valencia, this was the Working Abroad Index where it finished in a lowly 41st position. Respondents also rated it last for career prospects with 50% rating the local job market negatively.
Of course, one of the main reasons for people to move to Spain is the healthy lifestyle and it comes as no surprise that the country’s biggest city scored very highly here.
The cost and availability of healthcare in Valencia was also highly rated by expats giving it a satisfaction score of 80% compared to the global rating of 61%.
So if you are looking for a great place to live in Spain you should definitely check out what the beautiful city of Valencia has to offer. Almost 12,000 expats can’t be wrong!
Source: Internations Expat City Report 2022
