Melbourne crowned the best city in the world

Melbourne has been crowned the best city in the world for 2026 by a global lifestyle media brand for its diversity, liveliness and vibrant cultural scene.

It’s the first time an Australian city has taken the top spot on Time Out’s list of the 50 best cities, with the Victorian capital beating the likes of London and New York.

Melbourne defeated Shanghai, Edinburgh, London and New York, which rounded out the top five on the list.

Melbourne’s previous top placing was second in 2016, and this year it climbed three places, from fourth place in 2025. Sydney also made the list ranking at number 21, and Adelaide came in at number 29.

The list, which has been running for 10 years, is based on a survey of 24,000 people across the world who live in cities and a panel of 100 experts selected by Time Out who were asked to name the most exciting cities in the world right now.

Data from 44 different criteria was combined to create the ranking, with Melburnians ranking their home town particularly high in local responses to statements including: “My city makes me happy” and “I find joy in the everyday experiences where I live.”

Alice Ellis, editor-in-chief for Time Out Australia, said Melburnians scored the city very highly for criteria including diversity, liveliness, cultural activities and affordability of going out.

An insider with detailed knowledge of the methodology, who was not authorised to speak publicly, revealed that although the ranking is compiled using the survey data, Time Out editors around the world also discuss what order cities will be ranked based on a host of factors, including geographic diversity and potential Time Out opportunities. The survey results were combined with Time Out city editors’ responses to help determine the final rankings.

Ellis defended the methodology used by Time Out, which she said was more of an “attitudinal survey” compared with rankings like the Economist’s Intelligence Unit’s 2025 Global Liveability Index, which ranked Melbourne as the fourth most-liveable city in the world last year.

“It’s as scientific as we can get in terms of getting a sense of how people feel about where they live at the moment,” she said.

Ellis said it was a challenging time around the world, and the result was a good reminder that Melbourne was a fairly exceptional place to live.

“We know that Melbourne isn’t perfect,” she said. “We were really pleased to see that Melbourne locals overall do rate the place they live highly, especially compared to other places around the world.”

On the streets of the CBD when asked what they thought was the world’s best city, locals were happy to nominate their own city.

Meg Scott moved from London 10 years ago and said while she loved going home to London, “it’s chaotic and just feels really busy”, whereas she found Melbourne more relaxed. “Melbourne’s got a much slower pace, and you can walk around and feel comfortable without feeling hectic,” she said.

Scott says she loves Melbourne’s shopping, food and, particularly, its bakeries.

Giovanni Arlinda lives in Warrnambool, where she moved to from Indonesia, but agrees Melbourne is the world’s best city because of its air quality and public transport.

“It’s balanced between the nature and also the city life,” she said. “For me personally, it’s a balanced city, so I love it.”

But Dhathri Bellave and Lachlan Bajema, in town from Sydney for the Formula 1 Grand Prix, were divided on whether Melbourne deserved the crown.

Bellave nominated Queenstown in New Zealand because of its beauty. “I would love to live there,” she said, naming London as another potentially superior city, while Bajema said he believed Melbourne outranked his home town of Sydney.

“I like Melbourne more than Sydney,” he said. “It’s more affordable. Sydney’s impossible. Sydney is beautiful, it’s a beautiful city, it’s great to grow up in, but it’s more accessible and cheap in Melbourne. It just makes more sense.”

Lord Mayor Nick Reece said all Melburnians could feel a sense of pride at being the No.1 city in the world.

“As lord mayor, you could imagine, I’m ready to do high jumps off the table with joy at a big result like this,” he said. “It was only a few short years ago that Melbourne was facing some serious challenges. By some accounts, we were the most locked-down city in the world. Now we are top of the table.”

Reece also had some feedback for Sydney, which was ranked 21st.

“I think Sydney is an absolutely fantastic city, and I look forward to sharing our knowledge and experience with them about what makes a great city when I next visit,” he said.

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