Amsterdam has made it onto a list of the top 25 cities for expats to move to post COVID-19 - but the Dutch capital failed to secure a spot in the top 10 due to the high cost of living. 

MoverDB’s top cities for expats to move to 

MoverDB - a free online platform providing people across the world with information about international moving companies and the costs associated with moving overseas - compiled a list of the top 25 cities for expats to move to post COVID-19, analysing the cities which performed highest in a number of categories, including safety, quality of life, salary, and the size of the local expat community.

Furthermore, taking into consideration the way the coronavirus crisis has changed the global work culture and practices, MoverDB wanted to highlight the cities around the world that were still open to and reliant on expats. 

The Spanish city of Madrid nabbed the top spot, followed closely by Reykjavik and Luxembourg. All three cities performed well across the board, offering high-quality support networks for new expats and a high score for quality of life.

Amsterdam makes the list but misses out on top 10 spot

While Amsterdam has a thriving expat community and a strong support network and made it onto MoverDB’s list, the Dutch capital missed out on a spot in the top 10, coming in at 21 out of 25 and achieving an overall score of 6 out of 10. 

The city performed well in a number of categories, with 11,7 percent of the city's population made up of expats, an average salary of around 36.000 euros per year, a healthy work-life balance (Amsterdam scored joint-first with Geneva for the amount of reported overtime), and a high score on the life satisfaction index (184,18). 

Surprisingly, the city also scored relatively high in the safety category, nabbing a spot in MoverDB’s top 10 safest countries for expats. However, the city’s downfall appears to be the cost of living in the Netherlands. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the city racked up high totals for the average cost of food and drink, wifi, rent, and transportation.

The top 25 cities for expats to move to post COVID-19

According to MoverDB’s 2020 ranking, the top 25 cities for expats are: 

1. Madrid (6,8 out of 10)
2. Reykjavik (6,7) 
3. Luxembourg (6,7)
4. Helsinki (6,6)
5. Geneva (6,5)
6. Rome (6,4)
7. Ljubljana (6,4)
8. Stockholm (6,3) 
9. Lisbon (6,3)
10. Vienna (6,3)
11. Belfast (6,3)
12. Edinburgh (6,3)
13. Oslo (6,2)
14. Berlin (6,2)
15. Prague (6,2)
16. Tallinn (6,2)
17. Copenhagen (6,1)
18. London (6)
19. Vilnius (6)
20. Paris (6)
21. Amsterdam (6)
22. Brussels (6)
23. Bratislava (5,9)
24. Dublin (5,8)
25. Monaco (5,7)

For the full ranking and all the data, visit MoverDB’s website.