Toronto has been ranked among the top 20 cities to live in globally, earning the highest score among Canadian cities on the 2025 Oxford Economics Global Cities Index.
The index was first introduced in 2024 and ranks the top 1,000 cities worldwide, offering insights into how cities are adapting in the rapidly changing global environment. Cities are ranked across several categories based on shared characteristics, like global leaders, regional leaders, cultural capitals, sustainable cities, industrial hubs, legacy cities, developing megacities and emerging standouts.
Toronto landed 20th overall on the list, with the report listing it as one of the fastest-growing cities in the region! It boasts one of the most historically stable economies in North America, with a GDP of just over CAD 620 billion and a GDP per person of $86,402.
The index lists Toronto’s population as 7.2 million (which likely contributed to its strong GDP numbers) but also credits the city’s economic growth to its persistently high levels of immigration.
“While new, lower immigration targets from the federal government have started to slow the breakneck pace of population growth seen from 2022 to 2024, the city still has the largest share of foreign-born residents in North America,” the report states.
Toronto’s population growth likely boosted its Human Capital score (the city ranked 13th globally), but the report notes that this may have also negatively impacted the city’s quality of life score, where it ranks a much lower 240th. One major issue cited is housing affordability. The report states that the large influx of new residents has strained Toronto’s already expensive housing market. Even with Ontario setting a target of building at least 1.5 million homes by 2031, any improvements in affordability are expected to take a few years.
“With housing supply unable to keep up with demand, unaffordability remains near record highs. As a result, residents of Toronto spend more of their income on housing than residents of nearly every other city in the world,” the report states.
Toronto also performed poorly in the Environment category (ranking 224th overall), in part because the city struggles with temperature anomalies during the winter, as well as summer heatwaves, which increase the climate-related risks Toronto faces.
Despite these challenges, the report believes that Toronto will likely remain a popular destination for new residents for years to come!
As for the remaining cities on the list, eight of the top 10 cities are the same as last year, with New York and London remaining in the top spots for the second year running. Two new cities also entered the top 10 this year (Boston and Sydney), with Sydney ranking seventh due to its improvement in its Quality of Life and Environment scores. The top 10 best cities to live in globally are listed as follows (you can see the full list here):
- New York, United States
- London, United Kingdom
- Paris, France
- San Jose, United States
- Seattle, United States
- Melbourne, Australia
- Sydney, Australia
- Boston, United States
- Tokyo, Japan
- San Francisco, United States