Toronto has long been known as Canada’s cultural and economic powerhouse, and The Six has once again shown its global appeal, landing ahead of Vancouver on a high-profile global list of desirable cities!
According to the Global Power City Index (GPCI), Toronto placed 26th overall worldwide, while Vancouver ranked 38th out of 48 cities, putting Toronto well ahead of its west-coast counterpart.
The list is published each year by the Institute for Urban Strategies at Japan’s Mori Memorial Foundation, and it evaluates cities based on their ability to attract people, capital and enterprises from across the globe. The index has been tracking global cities since 2008 and is widely cited in urban planning, economic development and international competitiveness research (so very respected).
Rather than focusing on quality of life alone, the GPCI takes a broader look at what makes a city globally powerful. Each city is scored across six key functions: economy, research and development, cultural interaction, livability, environment and accessibility. These categories are combined into an overall score that reflects a city’s comprehensive global appeal.
Toronto and Vancouver were the only two Canadian cities to make the list, but Toronto earned an overall score of 1063.6, placing it in the middle tier of global cities, alongside powerhouses like Los Angeles, Barcelona and Hong Kong. Vancouver, meanwhile, posted a score of 975.9, placing it a bit lower.
While both Canadian cities performed strongly in livability and environmental quality, Toronto’s higher ranking shows stronger results in economic power, research capacity and international accessibility (maybe partially due to the city’s larger population size).
The Six earned a score of 88.9 for the availability of skilled human resources and 93.2 for employment in business support services. Toronto also posted strong results for political, economic and business stability (85.1) and economic freedom (75.5).
As for the rest of the cities, London, England, topped the list (with a score of 1642.2) while Johannesburg, South Africa, landed in the final spot, with a score of 658.6 (you can see the full results here).
The results are pretty consistent with other global desirability lists. In the World’s Best Cities 2026 rankings released by Resonance Consultancy, Toronto placed well ahead of Vancouver, landing in 17th place globally compared with Vancouver’s 41st, scoring highly on factors like livability, “lovability” (e.g., culture and vibrancy) and prosperity.
