Expat City Ranking Methodology
The online questionnaire was promoted through the InterNations community, newsletter, and social media profiles. Responses were not limited to InterNations members.
The survey looks at all kinds of expats, from the classical foreign assignee (i.e., employees sent on a corporate assignment abroad) to international students, people who moved for love, and self-made expats who looked for work abroad — among a variety of reasons. A total of 12,543 expats participated in the survey, representing 175 nationalities.
The results are published in the form of an overall Expat City Ranking and five topical indices: Quality of Life, Ease of Settling In, Working Abroad, Personal Finance, and Expat Essentials.
For a city to be included, it required a sample size of at least 50 survey participants. In 2024, a total of 53 cities met this requirement.
For the ranking results, survey participants were asked to rate up to 53 factors related to expat life on a scale of one to seven. The survey emphasizes personal satisfaction with these factors and considers both factual (e.g., cost of living) as well as emotional (e.g., feeling at home) aspects with equal weight. The individual factor ratings were grouped into 16 subcategories, which form the basis for the topical indices mentioned above. These five indices plus responses to the question “All things considered, how happy are you with your life abroad in general?” were averaged to arrive at the final Expat City Ranking.
It’s important to note that the ratings are a comparison of how satisfied survey respondents are with life in their respective cities. They are not an objective comparison of verified facts from external sources (e.g., crime rate statistics to measure safety).
The indices do not cover every potential aspect of living abroad (e.g., international schools/education) nor are the results meant to be an endorsement of any specific destination. It is rather a look into how expats rate their everyday life abroad based on subjective scores.
All percentages on this website have been rounded to full integral numbers. In some cases, this may lead to responses to one question adding up to 99% or 101%. These instances are simply due to rounding and are not based on erroneous data.
