Where the World Wants to Live: Alternative Relocation Destinations

In previous years we have discovered that Canada was the most popular country for moving abroad and in 2023 we also looked at which cities were proving most desirable to move to, finding a huge amount of love around the world for a possible move to Dubai.

There’s no shortage of people looking to change their lives by making a big move to a new country, with a recent report suggesting that a quarter of people would like to move abroad for work.[1] We’ve decided to return to the topic of relocating - but this time with a crucial twist, what are the alternative relocation destination cities of choice?

Destinations such as Paris, New York, Madrid and London are commonly popular places to relocate to, so we’ve removed capital cities from our list, as well as the most searched for ‘move to’ city in each country, according to Google data, to offer us an alternative list of relocation destinations.

To achieve this we analyzed Google search volumes for the phrase ‘move to [city]’ for 98 countries around the world* but, this time, we have omitted both capital cities and the most searched for location for each country from our list. This has enabled us to create a ranking of the alternative relocation destinations of choice for each country.

Here's what we discovered about the relocation destinations that aren't the most obvious choices.

Key findings

Vancouver is the world’s most popular alternative relocation destination, with the Canadian city being the alternative relocation spot of choice for 17 countries including Australia, the UK and the US.
Barcelona and Miami follow as the second and third most popular alternative relocation destinations.
In the US, Kansas City (Missouri) ranks as the most popular alternative city to relocate to, closely followed by Chicago in Illinois.

How many countries want to move to these cities the most?

City	Number of countries where this city is the top alternative relocation destination
Vancouver	17
Barcelona	12
Miami	10
Dubai	6
Valencia	6
Utrecht	5
Toronto	4
Quebec	4
Brisbane	2
Calgary	2
San Diego	2
Osaka	2
Sydney	2
Cambridge (UK)	1
Charlotte	1
Colorado Springs	1
Dallas	1
Edmonton	1
Hamburg	1
Leeds	1
Malmo	1
Montreal	1
Aberdeen	1
Oxford	1
Rio de Janeiro	1
Bath	1
Tacoma	1
Toulon	1
Toulouse	1
Zurich	1

Vancouver is the world’s most popular alternative relocation city

The clear favorite of our alternative relocation cities is the bustling Canadian seaport of Vancouver, topping our list with 17 other countries including the UK, US, Australia and Japan having this as their alternative ‘move to’ destination of choice.

Vancouver has been a popular city to relocate to for decades and the reasons for this are plentiful; a mild climate, close proximity to nature and the fact it’s regularly listed as one of the most liveable [2] and safest [3] cities in the world. It’s clear why this bustling city is a great alternative for a wide range of countries when it comes to relocation choices - and it’s not the only Canadian city on our list. Toronto and Quebec rank in joint seventh, and Calgary ranks in ninth place. Edmonton and Montreal also feature in joint tenth position, meaning that six Canadian cities make our overall top ten.

Barcelona, Miami, Dubai, and Valencia, highlight the allure of cities with beaches

Proximity to the sun and sea is clearly also on people’s minds when researching a new place to call home as Barcelona, Miami, Dubai, and Valencia follow. Dubai and Miami featured in our previous research revealing the most popular cities for moving abroad, and they feature again here as the alternative choices for some of the world’s most visited countries including Canada, Barbados and India.

Valencia, another city with plentiful sunshine, also ranks highly. Its warm Mediterranean climate is just one of its many selling points, as it also has great healthcare provisions and entertainment options and is the most affordable city on our list when it comes to housing, food, transport and leisure. In fact, when we look at the estimated cost of living on Numbeo [4] for a single person in our alternative relocation list, the average is £809.75 a month (not including rent). Comparatively, the cost of living per month in Valencia is £593.60, significantly below average.

Interestingly, our alternative relocation destinations also compare favorably with our previous ‘most popular cities to move to’ list - where the average cost of living across the cities was significantly higher at £958.15. With this in mind, budget-conscious expats may be exploring alternative relocation destinations including Utrecht and Valencia thanks to the significantly more affordable cost of living.

Utrecht is another relocation destination that didn’t feature on our previous list but is the preferred alternative for five Spanish-speaking countries - Spain, Uruguay, Colombia, Venezuela and El Salvador. Seen as one of the most attractive places in the Netherlands, Utrecht offers city amenities coupled with great connections to the stunning Dutch countryside. It’s sizable without being crowded and with 172 nationalities represented in its estimated 360,000-person population, the city promotes diversity and inclusion at every turn.

To make it easy to see the alternative relocation choices of every country, we’ve created a color-coded map below.

The USA’s top alternative relocation destination choices

Last time we looked at the top relocation choices for every state in the US and New York, Portland, and Los Angeles featured prominently. When looking at the alternative relocation choices however, all three of those cities drop out of the list entirely, replaced by our new number one pick, Kansas City.

Kansas City is the alternative relocation destination of choice for 11 states, and it’s not surprising as to why, as the city boasts top-ranked universities and a great arts and culture scene, as well as an abundance of job opportunities across various sectors.

Perhaps most significantly, the city is a much cheaper place to live in than the likes of New York, Portland, and Los Angeles. The estimated cost of living according to Numbeo, which uses data from people living in these locations, shows that Kansas City is 32% cheaper than ‘The Big Apple’, 15% lower than Portland and 18% less expensive than Los Angeles.

The most popular alternative cities that Americans want to move to

US city	Number of US states where this is the alternative relocation destination of choice
Kansas City, Missouri	11
Chicago, Illinois	10
Seattle, Washington	8
Miami, Florida	7
Charlotte, North Carolina	4

The most popular alternative relocation picks for North America

The number one alternative relocation city of choice for North American countries is Vancouver and Dubai, both of which have three countries listing it as their top alternative. Miami, Barcelona, and Toronto have two countries each, whilst three further Canadian cities (Edmonton, Calgary, and Toronto) have one vote each too.

The most popular alternative relocation choices for Europe

City	Number of European countries where this is the alternative relocation destination of choice
Barcelona	6
Quebec	3
Hamburg	1
Dubai	1
Malmo	1
Rio de Janeiro	1
Utrecht	1
Vancouver	1

Barcelona is the top alternative relocation spot for Europeans

The city of sun, sea and incredible gastronomy, Barcelona is comfortably the top alternative pick for the rest of Europe with Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Belgium and Germany interested in a move here. France favors the French-speaking Canadian city of Quebec, and the UK’s alternative relocation capital of choice is Vancouver.

South America’s top alternative cities for moving abroad

Valencia is the top alternative city for South Americans moving abroad, with Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru favoring a move to the sunny Spanish city. Utrecht (which features sixth on our overall ranking) is a preferred alternative relocation destination by Colombia, Uruguay and Venezuela

Alternative relocation preferences in Oceania

Vancouver is also the top alternative relocation destination for the Oceanic countries Australia and Fiji, while New Zealand has neighboring city, Sydney, as its top alternative of choice.

There’s also a preference for the US port city of Tacoma located on the banks of Puget Sound just south of Seattle. Residents of American Samoa are particularly interested in Tacoma as a cheaper alternative to its number one pick in our last study, Washington D.C.

Preferred relocation destinations for people in Asia

Although the larger cities of Vancouver and Miami dominate the preferences of Asian countries, there’s also interest in what life is like in the smaller UK cities of Oxford and Bath. Bhutan has Oxford as its number one alternative while Turkmenistan dreams of a move to the historical city of Bath.

Where do people in African nations dream of moving to?

Vancouver is the clear winner in Africa with six countries, including Ghana and Nigeria, having this as their top alternative to the likes of Dubai and Paris. There’s a large spread of cities that have one country preferring a move there, including Toulon (Ivory Coast) and Toulouse (Madagascar) in France, and Namibia showing intent for a move to Scotland’s ‘Granite City’, Aberdeen.

Have any of these alternative relocation destinations tempted you to make your own move to a city overseas? If you’re ready to take the next step on a move abroad and are starting to plan for the future, you’ll still be able to transfer money securely and conveniently with Remitly. Discover more and get some tips and advice on immigration in our blog.

Methodology: How we researched our alternative relocation destinations

Google search data (searching all languages) was used to establish the annual search volume (June 2023 to May 2024) in 98 countries for the term ‘move to [city]’. All capital cities and the most searched-for destinations, judged by Google search data, in each country were removed. The next most-searched-for location was used as the top destination for the specific country and the overall rankings were created by totaling how many times each city featured as the number one choice of another country.

Data correct as of June 2024.

*Not all countries provided enough search data to be featured - we’ve included the countries with enough search volumes to be analyzed.

References

[1] Boston Consulting Group, ‘Dream Destinations and Mobility Trends’ https://web-assets.bcg.com/61/23/006267594700b68f17396371649a/bcg-decoding-global-talent-2024.pdf
[2] Economist Intelligence, ‘The Global Liveability Index 2023’ https://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/Jun-Global-Liveability-Index-2023.pdf?mkt_tok=NzUzLVJJUS00MzgAAAGMgrxnRsiGThGJEI7TEeY0pHftRUFdOWrEQwo-H--6fzUTHull9PKfAe0uu48_zWK_8o15EbdJ3sdYFtWf_FrZNvj1GcP7UVMECiAhjLuipAIwFA
[3] Student.com, ‘Vancouver City Guide: All You Need To Know As A Student’ https://www.student.com/articles/vancouver-city-guide
[4] Numbeo, ‘Cost of Living Index by City 2024’ https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings.jsp