An annual global ranking has named Melbourne the best city in the world for the first time. But it may be more to do with “vibes” than thorough analysis.
Time Out’s 50 Best Cities list for 2026, released on Wednesday, crowned an Australian city as No 1 for the first time in its 10-year history, showering Melbourne with acclaim for its food, culture and arts scenes.
Melbourne’s previously highest rank was No 2 in 2016, having placed fourth in 2025. Its ultimate rival, Sydney, also made the list at No 21, while Adelaide came in at No 29.
Shanghai ranked second, Edinburgh third, and London and New York were fourth and fifth.
For a comparatively small city of 5.5 million people (25 million people live in Shanghai), it would be easy to begin yelling from the rooftops and cracking open the VBs.
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Particularly if you look at the previous winners. Last year Cape Town took out the top spot but before that only the US and UK cities have been victorious (including New York, Edinburgh, San Francisco, London and Chicago).
Drilling down into the methodology, things get a little more opaque.
To find the winner, Time Out surveyed about 24,000 people about where they lived, based upon 44 criteria ranging from the food, nightlife and culture to affordability, happiness and the “overall city vibe”.
Participants were selected randomly based upon who was willing to do the survey, meaning they could be from any city in the world but were likely to be Time Out readers, given that the survey it was distributed on their website. People from 42 language backgrounds took part.
A panel of about 100 “Time Out city experts” around the world, typically editors, were also asked to name the “most exciting cities in the world right now”. That data was then combined with the survey to create the ranking.
Talking hypothetically, if the survey participants were evenly distributed across the cities on the top 50 list, the sample size of each city would be 480 people. In other words, 0.008% of Melbourne’s population, or 0.001% of Shanghai’s.
But we don’t know where each survey-participant came from, and they weren’t asked about where they would vote for if they had to choose another city.
Time Out’s annual list is one of many attempts to rank cities. One of the most reputable is Oxford Economics Global Cities Index, which provides a weighted scored out of 100 based upon five categories: economics, quality of life, human capital, environment and governance.
Its latest report placed Melbourne sixth behind New York, London, Paris, San Jose and Seattle.
The Worlds Best Cities rankings, meanwhile, places Sydney ahead of Melbourne at 11th, compared with 21st. London tops this ranking, which focuses on “liveability, lovability and prosperity”, followed by New York, Paris and Tokyo.
The Economist’s most liveable cities list last year placed Melbourne at No 4, behind Copenhagen, Vienna and Zurich.
What can we take from all of this? Rankings are confusing and subjective.
According to Time Out, Melbourne ranked particularly highly in local responses to the statements “my city makes me happy” and “I find joy in the everyday experiences where I live”.
Some 94% of Melburnians rated their food scene highly, 92% praised its arts and culture and it was the third best city for catering to gen Z.
Time Out’s Asia Pacific managing director, Kaylie Smith, said she was “thrilled” that Melbourne had “outshone the world’s biggest urban centres”.
“It’s inspiring to see locals themselves backing where they live,” she said.
“Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide are places where you can experience extraordinary food, festivals and culture, but also find joy in everyday life.
“That’s something you can’t take for granted.”
