The 2026 ranking of the best cities to live in

Milan ranks twelfth in Monocle’s “Quality of Life Survey 2026,” the only Italian city in the top 20. Tokyo, Copenhagen, and Lisbon lead the list. Here is the complete ranking.

Monocle’s Quality of Life Survey, published in the July issue, is the long-standing antidote to rankings that reduce quality of life to a simple Excel spreadsheet, refusing to measure a city’s value solely by its GDP.

How Monocle’s ranking works

The methodology bears no resemblance to that of other quality-of-life rankings, and that is precisely the point. Monocle magazine was founded nineteen years ago specifically in reaction to rankings dictated by taxes, GDP, and the cost of living: according to the editorial team, urban life should also be judged on culture, commerce, hospitality, and architecture. Since then, the structure has remained the same. A thirty-question survey is sent to trusted correspondents in forty cities around the world—people on the ground whose judgment the magazine says it values. The questions assess aspects such as safety, connectivity, governance, and the quality and availability of green spaces, among others. In addition, the survey includes the now-iconic assessment of how easy it is to find a decent meal and a drink after 10 p.m.

Each year, minor adjustments are made to reflect changes in the world, and in 2026, the focus was on dynamism, urban ambition, and safety. To build a more robust overview, the editorial team also drew on external data, particularly from real estate specialist Knight Frank and EIT Edition’s Copenhagenize Index 2025, which provides the “modal share of cycling” indicator, measuring the percentage of daily trips made by bicycle.

An important point worth noting regarding how the ranking was compiled: it is the result of the editorial team’s work, not an algorithm. After analyzing the data and the correspondents’ opinions, the editors compile the final list, and exclusions carry as much weight as inclusions. North American cities, in fact, struggled to make the list—with the exception of Vancouver—due to persistently high rates of crime, inequality, and the housing crisis. Africa and the Middle East, despite notable ambitions, do not offer the same level of safety as European and Asian metropolises. Outside the top 20—to cite a few notable examples—we even find cities like London and Los Angeles.

Milan, 12th

The image of the Duomo broadcast to billions of television viewers during the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, Monocle acknowledges, worked wonders for the city’s soft power (“cultural influence”), reminding the world of its proximity to the Alps. To encourage people to move from London and Paris, Italian tax policies then took over, led by the flat tax of 300,000 euros on foreign-sourced income. A move with mixed results: a more international city, but also rising real estate prices in an already very tight market. There are still many drawbacks, and the magazine doesn’t shy away from them (bike paths that end abruptly, graffiti, safety concerns, and pollution in the Po Valley). And yet, these imperfections are an integral part of the charm of a Milan that is now hard to ignore.

The complete ranking: the 20 most livable cities in 2026

Here is the list compiled by Monocle:

• Tokyo
• Copenhagen
• Lisbon
• Vienna
• Sydney
• Zurich
• Madrid
• Paris
• Munich
• Oslo
• Stockholm
• Milan
• Barcelona
• Singapore
• Amsterdam
• Helsinki
• Seoul
• Melbourne
• Vancouver
• Perth and Kyoto – tied

Source: Monocle