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Is New York Really the Best City in the World? Here’s What a New Report Says.

New York topped a ranking of 1,000 cities, but placed 86th for quality of life. Housing costs and environmental risks remain drawbacks.

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According to Oxford Economics’ 2026 Global Cities Index, New York is the world’s best city. Oxford Economics penned, “New York and London remain at the pinnacle of our Index, largely due to the size of their economies and the strength of their labor market.” 

While New York received a perfect score for economics, it ranked 5th for human capital, 86th for quality of life (the 5th highest in North America), 262nd for environment, and 198th for governance. The report did note the city’s high housing costs and environmental risks as cons. The report analyzed 1,000 cities, and immediately after New York on the list are London, Paris, Seattle, San Francisco, Dublin, Boston, San Jose, Tokyo, and Zurich (in that order). 78 of the 100 top spots went to European and North American countries.

Forbes noted that this is the third year in a row New York has received the highest overall score. The esteemed media outlet began its article, “In no surprise at all to New Yorkers, New York City was just ranked as the world’s best city.” However, social media users responding to posts from different sources did not all take the news as a natural........

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