Okay, we’ll get it out of the way. Birmingham has been named the 94th best city in the world. That doesn’t sound particularly impressive but when you consider that there are 76 cities in the United Kingdom alone and thousands more across the globe, it starts to look a little better, doesn’t it?
This isn’t some silly little list either the 2025 World’s Best Cities Report ranks the overall performance of more than 270+ global cities. Specifically, it looked at principal cities of metropolitan areas with more than one million population. Birmingham’s 1.158 million people easily puts it in this category, while the wider West Midlands population sits at around 3 million.
To determine this list (which saw London come out on top), Resonance Constalntancy used a combination of core statistics and user-generated data from online sources such as Google, Tripadvisor and Instagram to measure the quality of place when it comes to experiential factors. These range from Fortune 500 companies and airport connectivity to nightlife experiences and mentions on Instagram.
What made Birmingham stand out?
Birmingham is described as such: “England’s historic industrial heart beats anew with robust infrastructure that fosters a cultural economy.” Two areas it thrives most, however, are its attractions (10th in the world) and nightlife (12th). Understandable, when you consider we’ve got everything from the NEC and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery to Broad Street, XOYO and so much more.
The 2025 World’s Best Cities Report also highlights Brum’s continued “skyward trajectory of its Golden Decade before COVID hit.” Other recent highlights include an influx of Fortune 500 regional offices, one of Europe’s youngest workforces (about 40% of Brummies are under 25), the city’s eponymous university, Europe’s largest library, and HS2 high-speed rail network connecting Birmingham to London in 45 minutes.
There’s also Birmingham’s airport (ranked 61st) – with its “US$380-million investment plan to increase the airport’s capacity to 18 million passengers by 2033” – that’s perfectly positioned in the heart of the country. Meanwhile, the number of jobs being created in Birmingham is described as “staggering”, especially in life sciences and green technology.
You can read the complete 2025 World’s Best Cities Report by heading here.