The Cities That Make Settling In Easy … and Those That Do Not

While German cities are among the worst places to easily settle down abroad, Mexico City comes first. The top 10 cover many different geographical regions.

Top Findings

  • In #1 Mexico City, expats praise the friendliness of the population.
  • It is easy to make local friends in #2 Muscat.
  • #3 Valencia offers a great social life.
  • European cities make up the bottom 10, while the top 10 are more diverse.
  • The Iberian Peninsula and the Arabian Peninsula are well represented in the top 10 of the index.

The Top 10

Methodology

There are 50 cities in the Expat City Ranking 2022 with a minimum of 50 respondents each. The Ease of Settling In Index consists of three subcategories — Local Friendliness, Finding Friends, and Culture & Welcome. These subcategories contain eight single factors in total which survey respondents rated on a scale from one to seven: the friendliness of local residents in general and towards foreign residents in particular, respondents’ happiness with their social life and whether they have a personal support network in their host city, how easy it is to make local friends and get used to the local culture, and whether expats feel at home and generally welcome there.

#1 Mexico City: A Truly Friendly Place

Mexico City ranks as the best city in the Ease of Settling In Index and even occupies first place in all of its subcategories! According to 91% of survey respondents in Mexico City, people there are friendly towards foreign residents, and 87% rate the general friendliness of the local population positively, compared to a global average of 65% and 66%, respectively. “People here make life easy,” says one expat from Venezuela. Close to three-quarters (73%) share that they have a support network in Mexico City (vs. 59% globally). What is more, around two in three are also happy with their social life (69% vs. 56% globally) and agree that making local friends is easy (69% vs. 42% globally).

Over four in five expats (82%) say that they feel at home in Mexico City (vs. 62% globally), and 89% feel welcome there (vs. 66% globally). Another 84% find that it is easy to get used to the local culture (vs. 62% globally). According to an expat from Slovakia, “people in Mexico City have not forgotten to live, laugh, and be friendly, including all expats here.”

#2 Muscat: Where People Feel Welcome

Expats in Muscat rate the general friendliness of the local population positively — 88% say as much, 51% even very much so, compared to a global 66% and 30%, respectively. A similar share (88%) agree that people in the city are friendly towards foreign residents (vs. 65% globally). While Muscat performs way above the global average of 42% when it comes to making local friends — 66% of survey respondents find this to be easy — only 58% have a personal support network (vs. 59% globally) and 57% are happy with their social life (vs. 56% globally).

Still, over three out of four expats (76%) feel welcome in Muscat (vs. 66% globally), and 73% say that they feel at home there (vs. 62% globally). They also find it is easy to get used to the local culture (72% happy vs. 62% globally). One expat from Malaysia points out that “people are usually very friendly here. And Oman is a beautiful and peaceful country.”

#3 Valencia: A Great Social Life

Valencia ranks third in the Ease of Settling In Index and first overall. Expats in the Spanish city rate the general friendliness of the local population positively (85% happy vs. 66% globally). And over four in five (81%) agree that locals are friendly towards foreign residents as well (vs. 65% globally). Making local friends is also not an issue (55% happy vs. 42% globally). Unsurprisingly, 62% have a local support system (vs. 59% globally), and 72% are happy with their social life in Valencia (vs. 56% globally).

Expats in Valencia find the local culture generally easy to get used to — 79% say as much (vs. 62% globally). The same percentage (79%) feels welcome in the city (vs. 66% globally), and 74% say that they feel at home there (vs. 62% globally). “People’s friendliness,” is also the reason why one survey respondent from the UK enjoys life in Valencia so much.

It Is Hard to Settle In in the Bottom 3

Taking a look at the cities where expats struggle to settle in, the bottom 3 are all found in German-speaking countries.

Vienna (50th) ranks last in the Ease of Settling In Index and also in the Local Friendliness Subcategory. Nearly half the respondents in the city (46%) say that people are unfriendly towards foreign residents (vs. 18% globally), and 43% rate the general friendliness of the population negatively (vs. 17% globally). An Australian expat is unhappy with the seemingly “bad tempered locals”, while a survey respondent from the UK struggles to get along with the “conservative Austrians” in Vienna. Unsurprisingly, more than half of the expats in Vienna (54%) find it difficult to make friends with the locals (vs. 37% globally). Around one-third (32%) are unhappy with their social life (vs. 26% globally), and 27% do not have a personal support system in Vienna (vs. 24% globally).

Expats in Hamburg (49th) also struggle with making local friends (65% dissatisfied vs. 37% globally) and are unhappy with their social life (37% vs. 26% globally) — Hamburg even ranks last for the latter factor. Only slightly more than half of the survey respondents in Hamburg (52%) have a personal support system in the city (vs. 59% globally). They also do not feel at home (39% unhappy vs. 21%) or welcome in Hamburg (26% vs. 16% globally). More than one-third (34%) find it difficult to get used to the local culture (vs. 19% globally). “It is hard to get in touch with locals here and very hard to find friends,” says a survey respondent from Afghanistan. The local friendliness is lacking as well: 35% of survey respondents rate the general friendliness of the local population poorly (vs. 17% globally), and 27% find people to be unfriendly towards foreign residents (vs. 18% globally).

Frankfurt (48th) is the second German city in the bottom 3. According to the survey respondents, it is quite difficult to get used to the local culture — 30% say as much (vs. 19% globally). Just under one-third of the expats in Frankfurt (32%) do not feel at home in the city, and only 44% feel welcome there, compared to a global 21% and 66%, respectively. Finding local friends seems to be a big challenge, too (55% unhappy vs. 37% globally). Expats in Frankfurt are also less likely to be happy with their social life (36% happy vs. 56% globally) and have a personal support network there (50% vs. 59% globally). Another 22% rate the general friendliness of the local population poorly (vs. 17% globally), and 25% find people in Frankfurt to be unfriendly towards foreign residents (vs. 18% globally). An expat from Zimbabwe says that it is due to “the lack of openness of the people”.

Trends in the Top 10

    Two cities on the Arabian Peninsula rank in the top 10: aside from Muscat (2nd), Dubai comes in eighth in the Ease of Settling In Index and second overall. Survey respondents feel welcome in the city (81% agree vs. 66% globally) and are happy with their social life (68% vs. 56% globally). Over three-quarters (77%) also say that people are generally friendly towards foreign residents in Dubai (vs. 65% globally). “It is a very open and easy place to live among different cultures and religions,” an expat from the UK shares.

    Cities on the Iberian Peninsula also perform quite well when it comes to the ease of settling in. In addition to Valencia (3rd), Lisbon (5th) and Madrid (7th) are popular among expats in this regard. Lisbon particularly impresses with its welcoming culture. Nearly three in four expats in the Portuguese capital (74%) feel at home there (vs. 62% globally), and 80% say that they feel welcome (vs. 66% globally). According to 81% of survey respondents, it is easy to get used to the culture in Lisbon (vs. 62% globally). “The hospitable, patient, and easy-going Portuguese people are helpful, kind, and polite,” according to an expat from the USA. Madrid, ranking seventh in the Ease of Settling In Index and fifth overall, is quite popular as well. Over seven in ten survey respondents feel at home in Madrid (78% vs. 62% globally) and say that they have found a personal support network there (71% vs. 59% globally). “It was so easy to get integrated and be part of the local life,” says a French expat. “In Madrid, people are very open and friendly.”

    Nairobi (6th) and Cape Town (9th) represent the African continent in the top 10 of the index. According to 66% of survey respondents, making local friends is generally easy in Nairobi — 29% even find it very easy (vs. 42% and 16% globally). Expats in both cities feel at home (Nairobi 4th, Cape Town 6th) and are happy with their social life there (Nairobi 6th, Cape Town 1st). In the South African metropolis, 42% are even very pleased with their social life (vs. 23% globally). According to an expat from the US, “the people and cultures are diverse, and Cape Town is the most naturally beautiful anywhere.”

    Trends in the Bottom 10

      German-speaking countries make it particularly difficult for expats to get settled, according to Expat Insider survey respondents. Seven out of the bottom 10 cities in the Ease of Settling In Index are located in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Aside from the bottom 3 — Frankfurt (48th), Hamburg (49th), and Vienna (50th) — expats in Basel (42nd), Zurich (43rd), Munich (44th), and Dusseldorf (45th) find it difficult to settle in as well.

      Although Basel ranks seventh overall, 27% of the survey respondents find it hard to get used to the local culture there (vs. 19% globally), and three in ten (30%) rate the friendliness of residents negatively (vs. 17% globally). “It is difficult to socialize and make friends here,” an Italian expat says. Zurich performs poorly across all subcategories of the Ease of Settling In Index. Making local friends is rather difficult in this city, according to 54% of expats (vs. 37% globally). A French survey respondent points to the “closed mentality of the local people” as one of their main struggles.

      Expats in Munich have a hard time feeling at home in the city (30% unhappy vs. 21% globally). Three in ten (30%) also rate the general friendliness of the local residents negatively (vs. 17% globally). “It is hard to integrate without speaking German fluently,” says a survey respondent from Sweden. Expats in Dusseldorf really struggle with getting used to the local culture — 42% give this factor a negative rating, more than twice the global average of 19%. Three in ten (30%) do not feel at home in Dusseldorf (vs. 21% globally), and nearly double that find it hard to make local friends there (59% vs. 37% globally).

      Aside from these German-speaking destinations, two Scandinavian cities rank in the bottom 10 of the Ease of Settling In Index: Copenhagen (41st) and Stockholm (47th). Around one-third of the survey respondents in Copenhagen find that they do not have a personal support network in the city (33% vs. 24% globally) and are unhappy with their social life (34% vs. 26% globally). “Generally, as a foreigner, one does not feel welcome and it is hard to get in contact with locals,” says a German expat living in Copenhagen. Expats in Stockholm find making local friends in the city rather difficult as well (65% unhappy vs. 37% globally). Over two in five (41%) rate the general friendliness of the local residents negatively (vs. 17% globally), and 34% are unhappy with their social life in Stockholm (vs. 26% globally). According to one survey respondent from the US, it is “difficult to break into the Swedish social circles”.

      Image credit: InterNations

      Filed under: Survey Data on November 29th, 2022

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