My top 5 favorite cities for living are

1. Lisbon
2. Rio de Janeiro
3. Montreal
4. Ho Chi Minh City
5. Berlin

Lisbon isn’t #1 in any of my factors. However, it’s the only city that scores above the bar in ALL my factors.

All the other cities are below the bar in at least one critical factor for me. Rio is too much fun to get work done in, Montreal and Berlin are too cold for me most of the year, and Ho Chi Minh is too polluted.

Cities that I’ve lived in that are mediocre or below the bar in my important factors:

• Medellin, Colombia
• Cali, Colombia
• Budapest, Hungary
• Krakow, Poland
• Chiangmai, Thailand
• Beijing, China
• Shanghai, China
• Washington, DC
• Hamburg, Germany
• Cologne, Germany
• Melbourne, Australia
• São Paulo, Brazil
• Salvador, Brazil
• Florianopolis, Brazil

It’s not that I do not like any of these cities. In fact many I actually enjoy a lot for short visits.

It’s just that they are lacking in factors I’d personally need to thrive in long term.

But I’m high maintenance…😉