Seattle Culture
Seattle Again Ranks Among Top Global Cities
Annual report notes that ‘America’s tech hub is playing the long game’
By Rob Smith November 26, 2024
Inclusive prosperity. Bold urban vibrancy. Winning the war for talent.
Those are just a few of the superlatives branding and advisory company Resonance showered on Seattle in its “World’s Best Cities 2025 report.” Seattle ranked a lofty No. 19 in the world and No. 6 in North America based on a treasure trove of economic and experiential data.
“You won’t find Seattle among the panicky headlines chronicling the decline of U.S. West Coast metropolises,” the report notes. “Heat waves (and, for some, politics) in the American South will only accelerate immigration to a place that ranks No. 4 for its waterworld outdoors and No. 13 for Air Quality. Talent pipelines are stocked by the omnipresent UDub — the University of Washington — one of the world’s top public research universities (No. 4 in our University subcategory), endowing the city with the 15th-most educated citizenry on earth.”
The report also cites the Seattle Aquarium’s new Ocean Pavilion (and its innovative oculus window), as well as its ambitious waterfront redevelopment that links the city to Puget Sound and Pike Place Market.
“Expect the city’s overall No. 13 Livability ranking to increase as a result of this bold, human-level placemaking,” the report says.
London, New York, and Paris took the top three spots. Only New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto and Chicago ranked ahead of Seattle in North America.
Seattle ranked No. 9 in North America last year.
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