Gen Z has named two Australian cities among the world's best to live in
This data comes from Time Out's annual ranking of the world's best cities, which is based on a survey of 18,500 locals who share their opinions on everything from food and culture to nightlife and green spaces. But what makes a city great means something different to each generation, and that's why we dug a little deeper into the data from the under-30s to find out what they actually value, including affordability, great nightlife, an accessible cultural scene, walkability and ease of meeting new people.
Australia's cultural capital, Melbourne, has landed in second place (slay!), beating out zoomer hot spots like Barcelona, Edinburgh and Mexico City. According to the data, 77 per cent of Gen Z described Melbourne as diverse and inclusive, with a whopping 96 per cent giving high ratings to the city's art and culture scene. Our beloved city also scored highly for quality of life, with an impressive 91 per cent of twenty-somethings saying the quality of life in Melbourne is 'good' or 'amazing'.
We reached out to our Gen Z audience via Instagram to discover exactly what they love most about Melbourne – and yep, the responses well and truly confirmed the global findings. The most common answer was just how multicultural our city is, with Melbourne's café culture also getting plenty of mentions (given how twenty-somethings are gravitating towards 'third spaces' that offer a matcha-fuelled antidote to nightlife fatigue, we're not surprised in the slightest). Street art, sport, the electronic music scene, theatre and how safe the city is were also specified.
Sydney just missed out on a top ten spot, ranking as the 11th-best city for Gen Z to live in worldwide. Its housing market is more unaffordable than Melbourne's, and Sydneysiders have a reputation for going to bed earlier than most – but on the whole, it's a fabulous place to live and work in your twenties.
So, which city snagged the top spot for Gen Zs? It was none other than Bangkok. The Thai capital took the crown thanks to its stand-out scores in happiness (84 per cent of Gen Z say they're happy living there) and affordability (71 per cent say it's a budget-friendly city to live in). Rounding out the top five behind Melbourne were Cape Town, New York City and Copenhagen.
These are the 20 best cities for Gen Z
Bangkok, Thailand
Melbourne, Australia
Cape Town, South Africa
New York City, United States
Copenhagen, Denmark
Barcelona, Spain
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Mexico City, Mexico
London, United Kingdom
Shanghai, China
Sydney, Australia
Beijing, China
Paris, France
Tokyo, Japan
Berlin, Germany
Seville, Spain
Chicago, United States
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Prague, Czech Republic
Lisbon, Portugal
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😱 Four Aussie cities ranked among the 50 best in the world for 2025
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