Copenhagen is still the most livable city in the world.
That's based on the Economist Intelligence Unit's new ranking of 173 cities, using five measures to rank the quality of life: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
"Copenhagen's continued dominance comes down to consistency across the board rather than a single standout strength," Ana Nicholls, EIU's director of industry analysis, said.
Last year, Copenhagen took the top spot from Vienna. The two cities continued to have perfect scores of 100 in a few categories this year, including perfect scores in education and infrastructure for both. Copenhagen also maintained its score of 100 for stability; this category looks at the prevalence of crime and other threats. Vienna continued to have a perfect healthcare score.
EIU said all of the top cities had a perfect score of 100 for education, and almost all had a 100 for healthcare. Many of the top cities landed at 95 for stability, with the rest of the top 10 scoring perfectly.
With a drop in culture and environment, Zurich's rank fell, but the city still made the top 10. Tokyo moved up this year, rounding out the top.
"Tokyo's climb into the top ten is particularly striking, given that large, densely populated cities usually contend with higher crime rates and greater strain on infrastructure," Nicholls said.
US cities still missed out on the top spots. At the regional level, Western Europe had the highest score, followed by North America.
Below are the top 10 most livable cities.
10. Tokyo, Japan
Overall: 96
Stability: 100
Healthcare: 100
Culture and environment: 89
Education: 100
Infrastructure: 93
9. Vancouver, Canada
Overall: 96
Stability: 95
Healthcare: 96
Culture and environment: 97
Education: 100
Infrastructure: 93
8. Adelaide, Australia
Overall: 96
Stability: 95
Healthcare: 100
Culture and environment: 91
Education: 100
Infrastructure: 96
7. Osaka, Japan
Overall: 96
Stability: 100
Healthcare: 100
Culture and environment: 87
Education: 100
Infrastructure: 96
6. Geneva, Switzerland
Overall: 96
Stability: 95
Healthcare: 100
Culture and environment: 92
Education: 100
Infrastructure: 96
5. Zurich, Switzerland
Overall: 96
Stability: 95
Healthcare: 100
Culture and environment: 94
Education: 100
Infrastructure: 96
4. Sydney, Australia
Overall: 97
Stability: 95
Healthcare: 100
Culture and environment: 94
Education: 100
Infrastructure: 96
3. Melbourne, Australia
Overall: 97
Stability: 95
Healthcare: 100
Culture and environment: 96
Education: 100
Infrastructure: 96
2. Vienna, Austria
Overall: 97
Stability: 95
Healthcare: 100
Culture and environment: 94
Education: 100
Infrastructure: 100
1. Copenhagen, Denmark
Overall: 98
Stability: 100
Healthcare: 96
Culture and environment: 95
Education: 100
Infrastructure: 100
Read next
Madison Hoff is a reporter on Business Insider’s economy team. She covers the labor market, inflation, spending, and other data. In addition to covering new estimates and trends, her workforce reporting includes career pivots, job searching, and side hustles.She also covers downsizing, particularly people selling their houses to pursue RV living. She has also reported on how much teachers spend out of pocket and what it’s like being a caregiver.Her stories often cover the state of the economy, what experts are saying, and how people are navigating the workplace or their careers.Previously, she was a junior reporter and data editorial fellow on the Strategy team.A few of her stories:
- Job-market trend: Welcome to the 'Great Freeze': Why companies aren't firing, workers can't grow, and the unemployed can't get jobs
- Job-market trend: Everyone's focused on AI — but it's aging Americans who are quietly rewiring the job market
- Career pivot: I retired early from my federal job and took a part-time job at TJ Maxx. I'm happier and less stressed.
- Downsizing/RV living: An empty-nester couple who traded in a $400K house for an $80K RV explain their favorite parts of retirement on the road
- Job searching: People who haven't had steady work for at least a year are networking, doing temporary jobs, and soul-searching
- Side hustles: A millennial who used side hustles to pay off debt explains the lucrative and easy ones she recommends
- Teacher spending: A teacher who spent more than $5,000 of her own money to make a cozy classroom explains why it helps kids learn
