World City rankings

Best Cities in the World

New York ranks 1st on Rank, followed by Melbourne (2nd) and Chicago (3rd); rank 1 is the best. Istanbul ranks last (48th).

Culture46 cities · 1 metricUpdated Oct 28, 2026Original page
1 source
RankBetter directionWhether a higher or a lower value is better. A green arrow means higher is better, a red arrow means lower is better, and no arrow means neither.More in the glossary →
46 of 1,103 cities
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Rank

Green is better, red is worse (rank 1 is the best). Click a place to highlight it.

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All 46 ranked

Best first; rank 1 is the best and has the longest bar.

Data

Click a column to sort, a row to highlight that place on the charts.

46 cities · # = rank by Rank
#
1New York1st
2Melbourne2nd
3Chicago3rd
4London4th
5Los Angeles5th
6Montreal6th
7Berlin7th
8Glasgow8th
9Paris9th
10Tokyo10th
11Madrid11th
12Cape Town12th
13Las Vegas13th
14Mexico City14th
15Manchester15th
16Philadelphia16th
17Barcelona17th
18Buenos Aires18th
19Lisbon19th
20Washington20th
21Tel Aviv21st
22Mumbai22nd
23Toronto23rd
24Birmingham24th
25Dublin25th
26Sao Paulo26th
27Miami27th
28Porto28th
29Singapore29th
30Edinburgh30th
31San Francisco31st
32Dubai32nd
33Munich33rd
34Vienna34th
35Shanghai35th
36Moscow36th
37Delhi37th
38Seattle38th
39Sydney39th
40Abu Dhabi40th
41Rio de Janeiro43rd
42Marseille44th
43Bangkok45th
44Kuala Lumpur46th
45Beijing47th
46Istanbul48th

What correlates with Rank?

Pearson r against 19 other city metrics sharing at least 28 cities. Ranks are read by standing: a better rank counts as higher, whether rank 1 is the best place on a list or the worst. Correlation is not causation.

Higher together

Places that rank better on Rank tend to score higher on these (or rank better)

  1. Digital SecuritySafest Cities in the World
    r = +0.52 · strong · n = 28
    Plot
  2. Security Score Via Economic ImpactSafest Cities in the World
    r = +0.51 · strong · n = 28
    Plot
  3. Personal SecuritySafest Cities in the World
    r = +0.47 · moderate · n = 28
    Plot
  4. Infrastucture SecuritySafest Cities in the World
    r = +0.38 · moderate · n = 28
    Plot
  5. Environmental SecuritySafest Cities in the World
    r = +0.37 · moderate · n = 28
    Plot
  6. Urban Area (sq. mi.)Largest City in the World by Area
    r = +0.20 · weak · n = 44
    Plot

Opposite directions

Places that rank better on Rank tend to score lower on these (or rank worse)

  1. Population
    r = −0.25 · weak · n = 46
    Plot
  2. Population Density RankPopulation Density by CityA rank: rank 1 is the best
    r = −0.16 · weak · n = 45
    Plot
  3. Population Density (pop. per mi²)Population Density by City
    r = −0.16 · weak · n = 45
    Plot
  4. Population Density (Pop. per km²)Population Density by City
    r = −0.16 · weak · n = 45
    Plot
  5. Urban Area DensityLargest City in the World by Area
    r = −0.15 · weak · n = 44
    Plot
  6. Population Growth Rate
    r = −0.14 · weak · n = 46
    Plot

Quick answers

Which world city ranks first on Rank?
New York ranks first on Rank, at 1st, followed by Melbourne (2nd) and Chicago (3rd). Rank 1 is the best world city.
Which world city ranks last on Rank?
Istanbul ranks last of the 46 world cities with data, at 48th.
Where does this best cities in the world data come from?
Rankodex compiles it from World Population Review and the primary sources it cites: Time Out - Best Cities in the World. Last updated 2026-10-28.

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