Dubai, Seoul or Auckland? The 10 best cities for Gen Z, scored across 10 factors

Picking a city in your 20s comes down to rent, nightlife, community and connectivity, and no city wins on all of them. No U.S. city makes the top 10 below, and New York scores 0.0 for rent affordability, the lowest in the study.

FACT Magazines scored 75 cities across six continents on 10 weighted factors for adults aged roughly 20 to 29, from rent and nightlife to diversity and internet speed, and these 10 ranked highest.

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Dubai takes first place with an overall score of 64.1, driven by two perfect marks. It is the only city in the study to score 100 for foreigner diversity, and it also scores 100 for social media exposure, a mark it shares with Abu Dhabi. Its internet speed score of 85.8 is behind only Singapore and Santiago.

The win comes with gaps. Dubai ties for 73rd of 75 cities on LGBTQ+ openness, with a score of 6.1, and ranks 70th for climate suitability. FACT's methodology applies national data for social media, LGBTQ+ openness and internet speed to every city in a country, and diversity and social media together carry 30% of the total weight, the two areas where Dubai scores highest.

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Abu Dhabi is second with 61.1, which puts both of the UAE's major cities at the top of the ranking. FACT credits its international population, which it says includes more than 200 nationalities. The city scores 87.5 for foreigner diversity, the third-highest in the study behind Dubai and Doha, and 100 for social media exposure.

Affordability helps more here than in Dubai. Abu Dhabi scores 61.9 for rent and 73.0 for night-out affordability, compared with 53.2 and 57.3 in Dubai. Like Dubai, it ties for 73rd on LGBTQ+ openness at 6.1, and it ranks 73rd for climate suitability, at 17.4.

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Seoul ranks third with 59.0 and is the clearest case of a city that wins on lifestyle. Its nightlife score of 99.0 is the highest in the study, based on the density and total number of bars, cafes and restaurants open at night. FACT cites a 2022 World Cities Culture Forum figure of more than 15,000 bars and 125,000 restaurants.

Rent affordability scores 87.4, the second-highest in the top 10 after Santiago, and night-out affordability scores 78.1. The weak spots are diversity, where Seoul scores 4.6, and LGBTQ+ openness, at 47.5.

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Auckland takes fourth with 58.6 on the strength of everyday comfort. It scores a perfect 100 for climate suitability, the highest in the study, which measures year-round livability, and 75.5 for green space, the third-highest. Its LGBTQ+ openness score of 86.9 is shared with Vancouver, Brisbane and Toronto, all of which sit in the top 10.

Auckland is less strong elsewhere. Nightlife scores 32.6 and internet speed 46.7, while rent affordability is 79.2.

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Vancouver finishes fifth with 58.5, only 0.1 behind Auckland. It scores 87.2 for climate suitability, 86.9 for LGBTQ+ openness and 53.2 for diversity, the eighth-highest in the study. Rent affordability is lower, at 65.6.

Vancouver's social media, LGBTQ+ openness and internet scores come from national Canadian data, so they match those of Toronto, Burnaby and the other Canadian cities in the study. Three Canadian cities appear in the top 13: Vancouver, Toronto and Burnaby.

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Santiago ranks sixth with 57.2 and is the only city in the study to score a perfect 100 for rent affordability. It also has the second-highest internet speed score, 86.1 behind only Singapore, and scores 78.5 for night-out affordability.

Its LGBTQ+ openness score of 89.3 is the highest of the top 10. The weak spots are diversity at 10.8 and nightlife at 31.4. Affordability alone did not decide the ranking, FACT notes: Shanghai scores 100 for night-out affordability and ranked 28th overall.

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Brisbane is seventh with 56.8. Its climate score of 97.3 is the fourth-highest in the study and its green space score of 67.5 the seventh-highest. Nightlife scores 53.9, the third-highest of the top 10 after Seoul and Tokyo, and the youth population score is 59.6.

Rent affordability, at 64.0, and internet speed, at 32.3, are the weakest of its factors. Its LGBTQ+ openness score is 86.9.

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Doha ranks eighth with 56.6. It scores 100 for youth population, the highest in the study, and 96.7 for foreigner diversity, second behind Dubai. FACT says foreign-born residents make up more than 85% of the populations of Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and the three take the top three places on its combined diversity and digital culture ranking, with scores of 100, 93.8 and 86.3 in that order for Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.

Doha also scores 0.0 for LGBTQ+ openness, the lowest in the study, and 5.8 for climate suitability, the second-lowest.

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Toronto is ninth with 56.0. It scores 56.6 for diversity, the seventh-highest in the study, 86.9 for LGBTQ+ openness and 72.5 for rent affordability.

Climate is its weakest area at 49.0, followed by green space at 32.0. On FACT's combined diversity and digital culture measure, Toronto scores 56.8, behind Canadian neighbors Brampton at 60.8 and Burnaby at 59.8.