Data study
Europe’s most livable cities
Which European cities give people a good life without a constant money squeeze? We plotted all 83 cities in the European Commission’s 2023 quality of life survey: how happy residents are with their services and surroundings, against how many of them struggled to pay their bills.
The short answer
Zurich tops the quality score, and only 14.8% of its residents had trouble paying bills last year, the lowest of any city surveyed. The best value cities cluster in the north and west: Swiss, Nordic, Dutch, Austrian and German cities combine well-rated services with few money worries. Southern Italy, Greece, the Balkans and Türkiye sit at the other end: in Palermo, 50.5% of residents struggled with bills and satisfaction with services was the lowest in the survey.
Big, famous capitals do not always win. Paris, Rome, Madrid, Lisbon and London all land in the bottom half for quality, while smaller cities such as Groningen, Aalborg, Oulu and Białystok rank near the top.
The four groups
Best value (30)
Great city life, few money worries
Good life, tight budgets (12)
Well run, but money is a strain
Easy on the wallet (11)
Fewer money worries, fewer comforts
All 83 cities
Click a column to sort.
| City | Country | Trouble paying bills | Quality percentile | Easy to find good, affordable housing | Satisfied living there | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zurich | Switzerland | 14.8% | 100 | 11.3% | 97.1% | Best value |
| Groningen | Netherlands | 22.7% | 99 | 40.1% | 95.5% | Best value |
| Luxembourg | Luxembourg | 16.7% | 98 | 14% | 93.4% | Best value |
| Aalborg | Denmark | 17.7% | 96 | 68.1% | 92.4% | Best value |
| Geneva | Switzerland | 25.4% | 95 | 7.8% | 94.6% | Best value |
| Helsinki | Finland | 29.7% | 94 | 16.5% | 91.1% | Best value |
| Munich | Germany | 22.7% | 93 | 10.2% | 92% | Best value |
| Oslo | Norway | 24.8% | 92 | 22.7% | 93.7% | Best value |
| Rennes | France | 38.9% | 90 | 44.2% | 93.8% | Good life, tight budgets |
| Vienna | Austria | 29% | 89 | 22.9% | 88% | Best value |
| Oulu | Finland | 27.1% | 88 | 67.8% | 90.9% | Best value |
| Białystok | Poland | 22.6% | 87 | 58% | 91.8% | Best value |
| Strasbourg | France | 37.4% | 84 | 31.7% | 92.2% | Good life, tight budgets |
| Malmö | Sweden | 17.3% | 84 | 36% | 91.5% | Best value |
| Copenhagen | Denmark | 15.8% | 82 | 14.3% | 95.7% | Best value |
| Cardiff | United Kingdom | 36.1% | 82 | 45.1% | 94% | Good life, tight budgets |
| Antwerp | Belgium | 24.9% | 79 | 29.7% | 91.8% | Best value |
| Hamburg | Germany | 23.2% | 79 | 10.9% | 92.4% | Best value |
| Amsterdam | Netherlands | 35.9% | 78 | 16.2% | 91.2% | Good life, tight budgets |
| Rostock | Germany | 16.2% | 76 | 19.4% | 94.3% | Best value |
| Rotterdam | Netherlands | 33.7% | 76 | 32.7% | 89.8% | Best value |
| Stockholm | Sweden | 20.9% | 74 | 10.9% | 94.7% | Best value |
| Oviedo | Spain | 35.6% | 73 | 60.3% | 90.3% | Best value |
| Newcastle (Tyneside) | United Kingdom | 34.6% | 72 | 64.5% | 93.3% | Best value |
| Braga | Portugal | 37.9% | 71 | 48.4% | 94.2% | Good life, tight budgets |
| Leipzig | Germany | 20.7% | 70 | 42% | 95% | Best value |
| Ljubljana | Slovenia | 23.7% | 68 | 26.2% | 90.2% | Best value |
| Gdańsk | Poland | 20.5% | 67 | 36.5% | 95.5% | Best value |
| Reykjavík | Iceland | 41% | 66 | 19.7% | 90.5% | Good life, tight budgets |
| Dortmund | Germany | 25.7% | 65 | 34.1% | 91.4% | Best value |
| Bordeaux | France | 35.8% | 63 | 24% | 91.6% | Good life, tight budgets |
| Tallinn | Estonia | 26.7% | 62 | 30.6% | 91.5% | Best value |
| Graz | Austria | 22.4% | 61 | 26% | 90.4% | Best value |
| Dublin | Ireland | 44.4% | 60 | 17.9% | 89.8% | Good life, tight budgets |
| Belfast | United Kingdom | 36.8% | 59 | 53.8% | 89.3% | Good life, tight budgets |
| Prague | Czechia | 17.8% | 57 | 25.3% | 92.8% | Best value |
| Vilnius | Lithuania | 35.2% | 56 | 38.5% | 92.8% | Best value |
| Essen | Germany | 22.6% | 55 | 35.3% | 90% | Best value |
| Lille | France | 43.1% | 54 | 31.8% | 86.5% | Good life, tight budgets |
| Glasgow | United Kingdom | 37.1% | 52 | 41.6% | 90.2% | Good life, tight budgets |
| Manchester | United Kingdom | 43.7% | 51 | 41.6% | 89.2% | Good life, tight budgets |
| Berlin | Germany | 22.5% | 50 | 19.1% | 86.2% | Best value |
| Cluj-Napoca | Romania | 26.3% | 49 | 33.4% | 94.3% | Easy on the wallet |
| Riga | Latvia | 39.8% | 48 | 27.2% | 80.1% | Hard going |
| Antalya | Türkiye | 65.9% | 46 | 43.6% | 91.2% | Hard going |
| Ostrava | Czechia | 19.9% | 45 | 52.9% | 83.5% | Easy on the wallet |
| Piatra Neamţ | Romania | 41% | 44 | 61.4% | 92.5% | Hard going |
| London | United Kingdom | 37.5% | 43 | 21.7% | 84.7% | Hard going |
| Liège | Belgium | 40.5% | 42 | 36.1% | 89.5% | Hard going |
| Brussels | Belgium | 47.6% | 40 | 17.5% | 86.5% | Hard going |
| Bologna | Italy | 39.4% | 39 | 23.7% | 86.8% | Hard going |
| Málaga | Spain | 40.3% | 38 | 51.6% | 89.2% | Hard going |
| Warsaw | Poland | 29.5% | 37 | 20.8% | 90.4% | Easy on the wallet |
| Krakow | Poland | 22.2% | 35 | 28.7% | 88% | Easy on the wallet |
| Zagreb | Croatia | 40% | 34 | 38% | 86.4% | Hard going |
| Burgas | Bulgaria | 54.4% | 33 | 47.3% | 88.5% | Hard going |
| Verona | Italy | 37.6% | 32 | 44% | 89% | Hard going |
| Ankara | Türkiye | 54.5% | 31 | 35.6% | 81.6% | Hard going |
| Košice | Slovakia | 23% | 29 | 21.4% | 92% | Easy on the wallet |
| Lisbon | Portugal | 44.4% | 28 | 15.8% | 89.2% | Hard going |
| Nicosia | Cyprus | 33.5% | 27 | 39.7% | 86.2% | Easy on the wallet |
| Barcelona | Spain | 34.7% | 26 | 28.5% | 83.7% | Easy on the wallet |
| Paris | France | 39.2% | 24 | 12% | 79.9% | Hard going |
| Turin | Italy | 47.4% | 23 | 43.8% | 82.4% | Hard going |
| Diyarbakir | Türkiye | 65.1% | 22 | 48.8% | 83.8% | Hard going |
| Bratislava | Slovakia | 23.9% | 21 | 15.2% | 90.8% | Easy on the wallet |
| Budapest | Hungary | 34.8% | 20 | 23.4% | 83.6% | Easy on the wallet |
| Madrid | Spain | 39.4% | 18 | 35.9% | 82% | Hard going |
| Miskolc | Hungary | 35.9% | 17 | 42.7% | 74.2% | Hard going |
| Marseille | France | 46.7% | 16 | 29.5% | 79% | Hard going |
| Podgorica | Montenegro | 60.1% | 15 | 54.7% | 76.8% | Hard going |
| Valletta | Malta | 21.7% | 13 | 46.1% | 81.7% | Easy on the wallet |
| Sofia | Bulgaria | 57.9% | 12 | 49.9% | 81.3% | Hard going |
| Belgrade | Serbia | 39.9% | 11 | 32.5% | 69.3% | Hard going |
| Heraklion | Greece | 70.5% | 10 | 44.2% | 80.9% | Hard going |
| Istanbul | Türkiye | 65.1% | 9 | 10.2% | 64.9% | Hard going |
| Bucharest | Romania | 33.2% | 7 | 43% | 82.3% | Easy on the wallet |
| Rome | Italy | 41.2% | 6 | 27.9% | 71.1% | Hard going |
| Tirana | Albania | 58.5% | 5 | 30.5% | 65.9% | Hard going |
| Athens | Greece | 65.2% | 4 | 49% | 65% | Hard going |
| Skopje | North Macedonia | 61.3% | 2 | 64.7% | 72.3% | Hard going |
| Naples | Italy | 53.2% | 1 | 50.3% | 65.9% | Hard going |
| Palermo | Italy | 50.5% | 0 | 62.7% | 62% | Hard going |
How we built this
All figures come from one source: the European Commission’s Survey on the Quality of Life in European Cities 2023, run by Ipsos with about 850 residents in each of 83 cities across the EU, EFTA, the UK, the Western Balkans and Türkiye. We used the Commission’s aggregated city file (revised September 2024).
- Trouble paying bills: the share of residents who said they had difficulty paying their bills at the end of the month “most of the time” or “from time to time” in the last 12 months. People who did not answer are left out.
- Quality percentile: our own index. For each city we took the share of residents satisfied (out of those who gave an answer) with public transport, health care, schools, sport facilities, cultural facilities, green spaces, public spaces, air quality, noise and cleanliness, plus the share who feel safe walking alone at night. We averaged those 11 numbers and ranked the cities, so 100 is the best city in the survey and 0 the lowest.
- Housing and satisfaction columns: the share who agreed it is easy to find good housing at a reasonable price, and the share satisfied to live in their city, as reported in the survey.
- The dashed lines on the chart mark the median city. Country groups are ours.
Source: European Commission, Quality of Life in European Cities 2023. Last checked Oct 14, 2026. Survey answers reflect how residents felt in 2023.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most livable city in Europe?
On our quality index built from the EU survey, Zurich ranks first: residents rate its services and surroundings the highest of 83 cities, and only 14.8% had trouble paying bills in the last year.
Which European cities are the best value?
The best value group, where quality is above the median city and money strain is below it, includes Zurich, Switzerland, Groningen, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Aalborg, Denmark, Geneva, Switzerland, Helsinki, Finland.
Where is it easiest to find affordable housing?
Aalborg (68.1% agree), Oulu and Skopje lead the survey. In Geneva only 7.8% agree.
See also: the best places to live in Europe, the cheapest places to live and all city guides.