toronto world ranking

Toronto falls 5 spots on prestigious ranking of world's best cities

Toronto has fallen five spots to #18 in the global ranking of this year's list for the World's 100 Best Cities. 

The list, as compiled by Resonance Consultancy, considers each city's diversity, cultural programming and presence on social media as ranked by locals, tourists and investors. It also includes each city's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its future resilience. 

In 2020, Toronto was marked as the 13th best city world, making it the city's highest ranking ever since the list was created. 

This year's ranking at #18 came from a rating based on the product category. This category considers the city's key institutions, attractions and infrastructure, including museums, airport connectivity, universities and pro sports teams. 

Chris Fair, the CEO of Resonance and the author of this report, says the reason for Toronto's fall to #18 isn't necessarily because the city is becoming worse. 

"Toronto could change nothing about its city, but its ranking may change due to other changes happening in cities around the world," said Fair. 

Fair says Toronto was the city with one of the longest lockdowns in the entire world, which led to higher unemployment levels and meant little-to-no travel and tourism, therefore affecting its overall ranking. 

Toronto scored high for the people category this year, being listed as the fourth best city in the world for its diversity and education. Features such as immigration rate are factored in, with almost half of the city's population being born in other countries. 

A study done by the Centre for Urban Research and Land Development at Ryerson found that Toronto surpassed Dallas, Texas as being the fastest-growing metropolitan area across the U.S. and Canada. 

Other Canadian cities on the list of 100 include Vancouver, ranked at #46, Montreal at #48, Calgary at #49 and the capital of the country, Ottawa, sitting at #84. 

There's a full breakdown of each city around the world, but here are the top 10: 

  1. London, England
  2. Paris, France 
  3. New York City, United States 
  4. Moscow, Russia 
  5. Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  6. Tokyo, Japan 
  7. Singapore  
  8. Los Angeles, United States 
  9. Barcelona, Spain
  10. Madrid, Spain
Lead photo by

George Hornaday


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in City

Doug Ford just got even tougher on Ontario bike lanes with new measures

Toronto's $27 billion Ontario Line just crossed its biggest construction milestone so far

Rare Canadian gold coin sells for over $1.5 million

Toronto ranked among the top 100 best cities in the world for 2025

A full list of all the items included in Canada's holiday GST cut

Liquid soap sold at stores across Canada recalled due to contamination

Canadians to get GST cut on groceries and new $250 rebate ahead of holidays

Snow is finally coming to southern Ontario and here's when it will hit