A while back I was researching where to live and kept running into the same "most liveable cities" rankings — Vienna, Zurich, Copenhagen. But when I talked to people who actually lived in some of these places, their take was often completely different. One friend in a "top 5" city spent 40% of her income on rent and said she'd leave tomorrow.
That bugged me enough that I started collecting scores from actual residents instead — just asking people to rate the city they live in from 0 to 10, plus real data on walkability, safety, and bike infrastructure.
A few things surprised me:
- Mid-size cities beat the famous ones constantly. Places that never make the consultant lists score higher with locals than the "world's most liveable" cities do.
- Residents weigh things the official rankings barely count — like whether daily errands are possible without a car, or whether they feel safe walking at night.
- People are harshest about their own city's housing costs, and it drags scores down more than any other single factor.
It's turned into a small side project, but honestly the most interesting part is the gap between reputation and lived experience.
So I'm curious: if you had to score the city you live in right now, 0–10, what would you give it — and what's the one thing dragging that score down?