Amsterdam once again tops ranking of most attractive cities in the Netherlands

The most recent Municipality Atlas has ranked Amsterdam as the most attractive city in the Netherlands to live in, based on a number of factors, like prosperity and amenities.

Municipality Atlas 2025

Each year, Dutch research agency Atlas Research looks at the 50 largest municipalities in the Netherlands and rates them on their attractiveness for current and future residents. 

The score is calculated across more than 50 indicators, including the quality and quantity of green spaces, house prices, universities, job opportunities, and local attractions. The findings are published in a report that looks at the pros and cons of each Dutch city. 

Amsterdam once again most attractive city, followed by Amstelveen

The 2025 report sees Amsterdam continue its reign in the top spot, thanks to its accessible location, wealth of amenities, two universities, and historic city centre. 

However, as in other years, Amsterdam scored less well on prosperity, which takes into account material prosperity, health and wellbeing, work and education, living satisfaction, nature, social cohesion, and safety. The capital took 39th place in this category, while Henegelo came top, and Rotterdam came at the very bottom of the pile. 

The other cities to claim top spots were Amstelveen, Utrecht and Leiden. 

Maastricht climbs up ranking

The biggest climber this year was Maastricht, which shot up from 40th to 34th place in the 2025 ranking. Researchers said this rise was mainly down to improvements in safety and amenities on offer. Maastricht also performed better in the prosperity category. 

Researchers told NOS that cities like Maastricht and Groningen typically rank lower than you might expect in the list, since they are more cut off from other parts of the country and therefore don’t score well for accessibility.