10 Best Expat Cities in the World - Preply (2024)

Emigrating abroad marks the starting point of an exciting new chapter of your life. More and more people are choosing to move abroad to better themselves, learn new skills, and expand their horizons. In fact, since 2013, the number of expats around the world has grown by 5.8% each year[1].

Whatever your reasons for moving to a different country, it’s important to learn the basics of the native language spoken there so you can feel confident communicating with your neighbors, colleagues, lecturers, and anyone else you come into contact with on your new adventure.

With emigration becoming an increasingly popular choice amongst students, families, and working professionals, this leaves many questioning: which are the best cities for expats to move to?

To investigate this, at Preply, we’ve created the global expat index ranking 60 of the most popular destinations on 11 relevant relocation metrics. These include the average monthly salary, how safe the area is, the average length of time to learn the language fluently, and more.

Why is learning a local language important for expats?

According to our data, over 26% of students using online tutoring to learn a language are doing so because they are relocating to a new area.

Making friends, communicating with colleagues, integrating into a new culture, and accessing public services like hospitals have all been described as areas our language learners worry about when moving.

These “Language anxieties” can be a common motivation for relocators to learn the dominant language of their new home. A basic understanding of the native tongue often helps them smoothly settle in.

The Global Expat Index: The world’s top 20 cities for expats to work and live

Kuala Lumpur is the best city for expats to work and live in

With an overall expat relocation score of 6.62, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia ranks as the best city for expats. Monthly living costs for relocators in Malaysia's largest city amount to around £903 and with the average monthly rent for a one bedroom property in the city centre being £363, this leaves plenty of disposable income leftover to enjoy all that Kuala Lumpur has to offer.

When it comes to leisure, there’s plenty to keep you busy in Kuala Lumpur. The city boasts over 322 activities such as theme parks, cave tours, and visits to the famous Petronas Twin Towers.

Business professionals and remote workers will also appreciate Kuala Lumpur’s affordable coworking spaces too, with the average cost being £76 per month, the lowest out of the top 20 cities in our ranking. However, the city’s internet speed is among the slowest in our ranking at just 11 Mbps.

If you take Malay lessons online with Preply, it is estimated to take up to 900 hours of lessons for an English speaker to achieve “Professional Working Proficiency” in the language according to the FSI. However, this can vary based on a number of external factors such as a student's natural ability. You can use our study time calculator to understand how long it might take you to learn the language.

Georgia’s Tbilisi is the second best city for expats to relocate to

Tbilisi in Georgia follows closely behind in second place with an expat relocation score of 6.58.

Tblisi is more expensive for expats compared to Kuala Lumpur, with the average person bringing home a monthly salary of £372 after tax and a 1 bedroom apartment

in the city centre costing around £580. Food is more expensive too, with a meal at an inexpensive restaurant costing an average of £7.38.

However, Tbilisi is one of the safer cities in our ranking with a city safety index of 74.5 on a scale of 0-120 (a high score means the city is very safe). This is important for all expats, especially those who are relocating with young families. This, along with Tbilisi's rich cultural heritage and complex history can explain why the city sees 18% of its visitors return. Other than Tbilisi, Bangkok is the only other city in our top 20 to have a visitor return rate this high (18%).

With around 1,100 hours of lessons with Preply, you can work with our Georgian tutors online to achieve a high proficiency.

Lisbon in Portugal is the third best city for expats

Lisbon ranks third overall, with a higher cost of living (£1,367) and average rent cost (​​£865) than the two cities ranked above it and an average salary of £959.

Internet speeds are much faster in Lisbon, however, at 29 Mbps - which is great for remote workers who need a high-speed connection to work. The lively city also boasts 476 activities to enjoy in the local area, such as city tours and river cruises. In terms of safety, Lisbon has a city safety index score of 70.87 out of 120 so it’s one of the safer destinations for expats in our ranking.

It takes as little as 600 hours of Portuguese lessons online according to the FSI, making it one of the quicker languages to pick up.

Dubai and Bangkok round up the top 5 expat cities

Other high-ranking cities include Dubai and Bangkok in 4th and 5th place with expat relocation scores of 6.45 and 6.35 respectively.

Famous for its luxury lifestyle, Dubai’s cost of living for expats is higher than any other city in our analysis at £2,674. but to balance things out, the average monthly salary after tax is £4,082, which is the second highest on the list after Bern in Switzerland (£4,907). Another feature that makes Dubai attractive is its tax laws, with those earning more than £50,000 paying nothing in tax.

It would take 2,200 hours of Arabic lessons online to become proficient, which is on par with Mandarin (Chinese) as the most time-intensive language to learn. Despite that, with either language, you'd be able to communicate with 3.6% and 14.6% of the world.

The cost of living as an expat is also relatively high in Bangkok at £1,725, and the average monthly salary after tax is £492. However, after Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok has the most affordable monthly rent for a 1 bedroom city centre property at £451, and a meal costs just £2.11.

The top 10 cities for expats moving to the United Kingdom

Despite no UK cities making the global top 20, this got us wondering - where in the UK is the best suited for international expats looking to relocate?

To investigate this we created the UK expat index ranking 35 of the UK’ biggest cities on eight relevant metrics, including the monthly cost of living, the number of tourist attractions, the city's safety and more.

Manchester is the best UK city for international expats

With a near perfect expat relocation score of 9.40 out of 10, Manchester is the best city for expats moving to the UK. The ciy has a relatively high average monthly salary of £2,192 after tax paired with a monthly living cost for expats (£2,113). This makes Manchester more affordable than the country's capital, which only ranked in 20th place on our ranking.

In London, you can expect to pay a huge £3,120 on living costs each month as an expat, this, paired with the cities high rent (£1,823) and lower than average internet speed (9 Mbps) reduces London’s expat relocation score to 5.07 out of 10.

With one of the fastest internet speeds in the country (57 Mbps), Manchester is great for remote workers who rely on the internet on a day-to-day basis. However, those wanting to rent a coworking space will find Manchester to be the most expensive city for this, with the average monthly cost being £256.

The second best UK city for expats is much further down south in Portsmouth, where the average monthly salary is ​​£3,592 and rent for a 1-bedroom city centre property costs just £682. Portsmouth is also safer than Manchester, with a city safety index score of 54.06 compared with Manchester’s 44.46. Internet speeds are, however, much slower at just 17 Mbps, and we found just 9 top-rated activities to fill free time.

In third place is Southampton, where the average person takes home £2,222 after tax and pays around £761 each month for a 1-bed property in the city centre. Internet speed is slightly faster than Portsmouth with 18 Mbps and we found 10 more things to do here (19 in total), but safety is more of a concern with the city earning a safety index score of 48.76, the fourth lowest in our top 20.

How to learn a new language as an expat

Learning a new language can be challenging, but as an expat it will bring a huge amount of value to your life.

Learning the country's dominant language will help you feel more comfortable in your new home, can improve your career prospects, and will allow you to immerse yourself fully in the local culture.

To get you started, here are some of our tips for learning a new language as an expat.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

It’s completely normal and expected to make mistakes in the process of learning a new language, but don’t let this discourage you. Use it as motivation of where to improve and you’ll stop making the same mistakes over time.

Practice in different settings

It might feel daunting to put your lessons into practice in real-life situations for the first time. However, Try not to shy away from the opportunity to push yourself in this way. There are many ways to build your confidence when learning from home or in person. From language exchange meetups, language exchange apps, online tutors, online games and more. You can create language learning environments even when you're not in the place it's spoken.

Have fun with it

If it's fun, it'll get done. Think of ways to make language learning align with your interests. For example, if you’re an expat who’s a keen film buff, you might want to try watching foreign language films based in the country you’re emigrating to.

Find a native language tutor with Preply

Need to improve your confidence in the language quickly, and learn some basics before you emigrate? Whatever city you end up relocating to as an expat, start your language learning journey today with one of our language classes.

Methodology and Sources

To reveal the best cities for expats, we created the global expat index ranking 60 cities around the world on their suitability for relocating to live and work based on the following 11 metrics:

• Monthly cost of living as an expat
• Average monthly salary (after tax)
• Estimated tax on $50,000
• Average monthly rent cost of a 1 bedroom apartment in the city center
• Internet speed (Mbps)
• Number of attractions
• Average cost of a meal at an inexpensive restaurant
• City safety score (0-100, 100 being the safest)
• Visitor return rate (%)
• Average monthly cost co-working space
• How many hours to learn the dominant language in the city

Each city was ranked and scored to give a final “Expat relocation score” out of 10.

A separate index was also created for the United Kingdom using eight of the same metrics to rank 35 of the country's cities on their suitability for expats. The metrics not included in the UK index were the number of hours to learn the dominant language in the city, the estimated tax on $50,000 and the visitor return rate as there were no differences in the data).

Data and exchange rates are correct as of September 2022.

[1] “Global Expatriates: Size, Segmentation and Forecast for the Worldwide Market” (Finaccord, 2018).