Best Cities is the home of Resonance Consultancy’s exclusive ranking of the world’s top urban destinations.
Our goal is to make Best Cities the most credible source of city performance in the eyes of visitors and residents alike.
Rooted in our exclusive research and updated with the latest city news, we help you to decide where to go and when. City tourism, after all, is booming. According to World Travel Monitor, city trips soared by 82% between 2007 and 2014 to reach 22% of all global holidays. These are massive shifts in preferences by global travelers. Best Cities aims to feed this new appetite for urban tourism with timely, robust tools and news to match travelers with their ideal city experiences.
Our ranking’s exclusive methodology quantifies and benchmarks the relative quality of place, reputation and competitive identity for global cities across multiple factors using core statistics and online ratings and reviews.
Best Cities is a division of Resonance Consultancy. Our strategists, researchers and marketers are a worldly team; we come from many places, and we’ve visited and worked in many others. We care about the people we work with—our employees and clients—and the places we work for.
Resonance Consultancy scores the world’s best cities based on the six metrics below.
The ranking evaluates each qualifying city across the six pillars of place equity: Place, Product, Programming, People, Prosperity, and Promotion. The performance of the top cities is summarized in radar charts. Each hexagon in a radar chart represents a category of a city’s competitive identity.
Place
The perceived quality of a city’s natural and built environment, including the sub-categories of Weather, Safety, Neighborhoods & Landmarks, and Outdoors. In addition, the 2020 America’s Best Cities rankings incorporate COVID-19 Infection rates as a sub-category.
Product
A city’s key institutions, attractions and infrastructure, including the sub-categories of Airport Connectivity, Attractions, Museums, University Ranking, Convention Center, and Pro Sports teams.
Programming
The arts, culture, entertainment and culinary scene in a city, including the sub-categories of Shopping, Culture, Restaurants, and Nightlife.
People
The immigration rate and diversity of a city, including the sub-categories of Foreign Born and Educational Attainment.
Prosperity
A city’s employment and corporate head offices, including the sub-categories of Fortune 500 Companies and Household Income as well as Employment Rate and Income Equality for the 2020 America’s Best Cities rankings.
Promotion
The quantity of stories, references and recommendations shared online about a city, including the sub-categories of Google Search Results, Google Trends, Facebook Check-ins, Instagram Hashtags, and TripAdvisor Reviews.
Our Best Cities Scorecard surfaces your city’s strengths and weaknesses, as perceived by visitors, potential investors, prospective residents and talent. And it does so relative to your competitive set.