Islamabad has been placed among the best-value cities in the world in a data visualisation by analyst Valerii Emelianov, based on data from Numbeo’s August 2026 database.
This data looks at 306 cities around the world. It looks at two main factors: the cost of living and the quality of life in these cities.
The Federal capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, falls in the Best Value group. This means that the city has a higher quality of life than the global median. And that its cost of living is below the median.
The ranking looks at several quality-of-life factors. These include safety, healthcare, traffic, pollution and climate.
Islamabad among best-value cities
Islamabad is listed with cities such as Tokyo, Chiang Mai, Tashkent, Abu Dhabi, Bursa and Antalya in the Best Value category.
Other cities in this group include Porto, Valencia, Prague, Madrid, Lisbon, Tallinn and Bratislava.
In Latin America, Curitiba and Florianópolis are also included in the Best Value group.
The results also suggest that Islamabad offers a strong balance in living costs and good everyday quality of life.
Which cities in the world have high quality of life?
The ranking also places several expensive cities in the Premium Life category. These cities have both higher living costs and higher quality-of-life scores.
The group includes Vienna, Zurich, Amsterdam, Oslo, Geneva and Frankfurt in Europe.
In North America, cities such as Vancouver, Calgary, Seattle and San Jose are included. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Singapore, Seoul and Dubai are also part of this category.
Which cities in the world have lower-cost living?
The Budget Living group includes cities where living costs are below the median but quality-of-life scores are also lower.
This category includes Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tbilisi, Baku, Bucharest, Belgrade, Athens and Budapest.
Other cities in this group include Buenos Aires, Santiago, Quito, Durban, Tunis, Montevideo, Guangzhou, Hyderabad and Jeddah.
Which cities have high cost but lower quality of life?
The final group is Bad Value. These cities have higher living costs but score below the median on quality-of-life factors.
The group includes major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington DC, Miami, London, Paris, Milan and Dublin. Hong Kong is also included in this category.
