Guides: how to choose where to live

Choosing where to live — or where to move abroad — usually comes down to three forces that pull against each other: how much it costs, what the weather is actually like year-round, and how exposed the place is to natural disasters and crime. Most "best places to live" lists are opinion; these guides are built from open data you can verify — World Bank price levels for cost, WorldClim temperature normals for climate, and USGS earthquake records plus modelled flood, storm, wildfire, heat and tsunami exposure for safety. Each guide turns that data into a clear shortlist for one specific question.

How to use these guides

Start with the guide closest to your priority — lowest cost, best climate, safest from disasters, or best all-round — then refine in the city sorter, which lets you filter all 1,103 cities by cost, climate and safety at once. Every city has a full profile page with its score breakdown and hazard analysis, and every country has its own page ranking its cities. Treat the rankings as a starting shortlist and verify the details our data does not cover — visas, healthcare and current rents — before you commit to a move.

What these guides deliberately leave out

We score cost, climate and physical safety because they are measurable from open data on a consistent basis worldwide. We do not yet score healthcare quality, visa or residency rules, job markets, internet speed or schooling — all of which can be decisive, and all of which you should research separately for any city that makes your shortlist. That honesty is the point: a transparent, reproducible score for the three biggest factors, not a black-box verdict.

Who these guides are for

They help anyone weighing a move and tired of opinion-based lists: remote workers and digital nomads choosing a base, retirees stretching a fixed income, families comparing climate and safety, and anyone relocating abroad who wants the cost, weather and disaster trade-offs laid out in numbers. Pair them with the city sorter and the per-country pages — each country has its own ranking of cities, and each city its own full profile — to go from a worldwide shortlist down to the specific place that fits your budget, climate and risk tolerance.

Highest-livability major cities worldwide

• Punta del Este, Uruguay — 75/100
• Maldonado, Uruguay — 73/100
• Melo, Uruguay — 73/100
• Dundalk, Ireland — 73/100
• Porto, Portugal — 72/100
• Hobart, Australia — 72/100
• Bendigo, Australia — 72/100
• City of Port Phillip, Australia — 72/100
• Ballarat, Australia — 72/100
• Mercedes, Uruguay — 72/100
• Galway, Ireland — 72/100
• Swords, Ireland — 72/100
• Limerick, Ireland — 72/100
• Bhisho, South Africa — 72/100
• Herceg Novi, Montenegro — 72/100
• Cetinje, Montenegro — 72/100
• Tivat, Montenegro — 72/100
• Albufeira, Portugal — 71/100
• Santander, Spain — 71/100
• Logroño, Spain — 71/100