Before getting into the list, one detail matters. InterNations’ 2024 Expat City Ranking is not a simple one-question happiness poll. It combines a direct question about how happy people are with life abroad and five broader indices covering quality of life, settling in, work, money, and practical daily basics. The survey ran in February 2024, drew 12,543 participants from 175 nationalities, and included 53 cities that met the minimum sample size of 50 respondents.
That makes the top 10 especially useful for a travel piece like this. These are not just places with pretty skylines or famous museums. They are cities where foreign residents felt daily life worked well enough to keep satisfaction levels unusually high. Spain dominates the upper tier, the Gulf performs especially well on convenience and work, and Bangkok slips into the top 10 with a strong mix of affordability and ease.
1. Valencia, Spain
Valencia took 1st place overall in the 2024 ranking, and it was not a narrow win built on one lucky category. InterNations says the city finished 1st overall, 1st for quality of life, 1st for personal finance, and 3rd for expats’ happiness with life abroad. That is about as strong a combination as any city in the survey managed.
On the ground, Valencia has the kind of layout that makes ordinary days feel pleasantly easy. The City of Arts and Sciences gives it one of Europe’s most striking modern landmarks, while the Turia Garden runs through the city like a huge green ribbon for walking and cycling. That pairing says a lot about why Valencia works. You get bold architecture, generous outdoor space, and a rhythm that rarely feels suffocating.
2. Málaga, Spain
Málaga came in 2nd overall, but it held the strongest bragging rights on the most human part of the survey. InterNations called it the home of the happiest expats in the world for 2024, and it also ranked 1st for Ease of Settling In. Respondents said they felt welcome, at home, socially connected, and well supported there, which is exactly the kind of emotional texture a spreadsheet alone cannot fake.
The city itself makes that result feel believable. The Picasso Museum sits right in the historic centre, close to the Cathedral, the Alcazaba, and the Roman Theatre, so culture folds naturally into everyday wandering. Málaga works because it feels bright, walkable, and pleasantly social without seeming as though it is trying too hard to charm you. That ease matters even more once the novelty of a move wears off.
3. Alicante, Spain
Alicante placed 3rd overall, and among the Spanish cities in the survey, it ranked 2nd for happiness with life abroad. Housing helped carry a lot of that strength. InterNations says Alicante was 3rd overall and 2nd among Spanish cities for expats’ happiness with life abroad, while its 2024 housing results placed it 5th worldwide for affordable and easy-to-find accommodation. That gives the city an unusually practical kind of appeal.
That advantage matters even more in a place that already feels built for slow living. Santa Bárbara Castle rises above the city with sweeping views, while the Explanada de España remains one of the seafront’s defining walks beneath rows of palms. A place like this does not need to shout. A castle on the hill and a promenade by the water already do plenty of the talking.
4. Panama City, Panama
Panama City landed 4th in the 2024 Expat City Ranking, and its position looks especially sturdy when you see what is holding it up. InterNations says Panama City ranked 2nd for personal finance and 8th for ease of settling in, which gives it a practical edge that many beautiful capitals never manage to match. This is the sort of result that usually points to a place where day-to-day life feels workable rather than merely glamorous.
The setting gives the numbers some style. Casco Antiguo brings cobbled streets, colonial architecture, and UNESCO status, while the Panama Canal remains the city’s unavoidable headline act. That contrast is part of the appeal. Panama City can feel historic, tropical, and sharply modern in the span of one afternoon, which gives international residents far more visual interest than a purely business-first destination.
5. Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico City finished 5th overall, and here the happiness signal is unusually clear. InterNations says 88 percent of respondents there were happy with their life in the city, a full 20 percentage points above the global average, and it also ranked 1st for local friendliness and 2nd for ease of settling in. That is a powerful combination. A giant metropolis can feel intimidating on arrival, but warmth and social ease can change the whole mood of a place.
Then there is the city itself, which has enough substance to keep long-term life interesting. Chapultepec Park alone gives residents one of the great urban green spaces of the region, and the broader city offers enough history, food, neighborhoods, and cultural weight to keep ordinary weekends from ever feeling flat. Mexico City does not sell a tidy fantasy. It wins by giving you scale, energy, and the sense that you could live there for years and still keep finding new corners.
6. Ras Al Khaimah, UAE
Ras Al Khaimah took 6th place overall and may be the most intriguing city in the whole top 10. InterNations says happiness with life abroad ranked 8th there, while Expat Essentials came in 1st, Working Abroad 2nd, Ease of Settling In 5th, and Personal Finance 8th. That is a remarkably balanced performance, and it suggests a destination where careers, logistics, and comfort line up more neatly than many outsiders expect.
The emirate’s physical variety helps it stand out from the flashier Gulf stereotype. Ras Al Khaimah’s official tourism authority describes the destination as a mix of beach, desert, and mountain landscapes, with Jebel Jais delivering the UAE’s highest peak. That matters because a place becomes easier to love when life there is not boxed into one texture. Ras Al Khaimah feels looser, quieter, and more varied than many people assume before they arrive.
7. Madrid, Spain
Madrid came in 7th overall, and among the Spanish cities in the survey, it ranked 5th for happiness with life abroad. InterNations says it stayed strong on Quality of Life at 4th and Ease of Settling In at 7th, while its Working Abroad result improved to 28th. That gives Madrid a slightly different flavor from the coastal Spanish stars above it. The city feels more like a place where professional life and personal pleasure still have a chance to coexist.
Plenty of capitals have big museums and a grand park. Madrid has them arranged in a way that makes the whole city flow. The Paseo del Arte gathers the Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza, and Reina Sofía along a relatively compact stretch, while the Landscape of Light folds in El Retiro and a UNESCO-recognized cultural core. That is the kind of setup that makes ordinary weekends feel expensive even when they are not.
8. Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok landed 8th overall, and the city did far better on personal contentment than some people might guess from its hectic surface. InterNations says happiness with life there ranked 7th, personal finance 5th, and ease of settling in 6th. Respondents were especially positive about disposable income, cost of living, and how quickly they felt at home. For a city that can look overwhelming from the outside, that is a pretty persuasive report card.
The appeal gets easier to understand once you picture the setting. The Grand Palace gives Bangkok one of its most recognizable landmarks, while Wat Arun rises along the river like a postcard that somehow still looks better in person. Daily life there can be loud, hot, and fast, but it is rarely dull. People forgive a lot when a place keeps feeding them beauty, flavor, and motion.
9. Abu Dhabi, UAE
Abu Dhabi placed 9th overall, though its path into the top 10 looks different from Spain’s. InterNations says it ranked 2nd for Expat Essentials and 7th for Quality of Life, with the Working Abroad Index narrowly missing the top 10 in 12th place. Its pure happiness result was lower, at 27th, so this is a good example of a city that scores highly because life runs smoothly, even if the emotional glow is not as strong as it is in Málaga or Valencia.
Even so, it is easy to see why many international residents stay. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque gives the city one of the region’s most memorable landmarks, while Louvre Abu Dhabi adds a serious cultural anchor on Saadiyat Island. Add polished infrastructure and coastline, and the whole place feels carefully composed. Some cities seduce with chaos. Abu Dhabi prefers calm confidence.
10. Dubai, UAE
Dubai closes the list in 10th place, and it is probably the most complicated city in the bunch. InterNations says it ranked 3rd for Expat Essentials, 8th for Quality of Life, and 9th for Working Abroad. The same city analysis says Dubai is the number one city where expats feel relocating improved their career prospects. Happiness with life abroad, however, sat much lower at 20th, and respondents were more skeptical about housing affordability than the global average. So yes, Dubai makes the top 10, but it gets there because it delivers momentum and convenience, not because everyone drifts around in a state of bliss.
That nuance actually makes the city more interesting. Dubai swings easily between the glass-and-steel ambition of Burj Khalifa and the older texture of Al Fahidi, where the creekside past still shows through. In practice, life there can feel ambitious and atmospheric, polished and traditional, all in the same week. Dubai is not the softest landing on this list, but for people who like speed, scale, and possibility, its pull is easy to understand.