When it comes to quality of life, Canberra has been ranked the best city in the world, according to the 2025 Oxford Economics Global Cities report.
After ranking in second place in 2024, Canberra has leapfrogged Grenoble in France to claim the number one spot in the category.
The quality of life measure encapsulates the wellbeing and satisfaction of a city’s residents. The indicators used to rank each city include life expectancy, income per person, income equality, housing expenditure, recreation and cultural sites, and crime rate.
The Oxford Economics Global Cities Report ranks the world’s 1,000 largest cities based on five weighted categories: Economics (30%), Governance (10%), Environment (10%), Human Capital (25%), and Quality of Life (25%). These scores are combined to determine each city’s overall ranking.
While Canberra improved to the top position for quality of life, our hometown didn’t fare so well in the other categories — Governance (15th), Human Capital (103rd), Environment (241st) and Economics (245th). This saw Canberra’s overall ranking drop to 52nd, down from 44th last year.
New York was rated the best overall city, with London and Paris rounding out the top three.
Melbourne (sixth) was the highest ranked Australian city, just ahead of Sydney (seventh). Brisbane (23rd) and Perth (31st) were next best, while Canberra (52nd) was the fifth highest Australian city.
