Cuenca ranks first in South America for quality of life

Apr 8, 2025

Cuenca has the best quality of life of all major South American cities, according to international online rating service Numbeo. Quito also ranked high in the 2025 survey of cities with populations of 500,000 or higher, at number 10.

Cuenca is considered one of the top destinations for expats in South America.

Numbeo’s crowdsourced global survey rates cities based on six criteria: purchasing power (the higher, the better); pollution (the lower, the better); cost of housing in relation to income (the lower, the better); overall cost of living (the lower, the better), security (the higher, the better); quality of health care: travel and commuting time (the lower, the better) and climate.

Cuenca has always ranked high in Numbeo’s rankings, according to survey managers. “This is not the first number one ranking for the city,” says Chad McCormick, Numbeo assistant statistical director. “It rates at or near the top in all our categories and receives consistently high appraisals from both residents and tourists,”

According to McCormick, Cuenca’s rating as the “safest” city in South America was especially impressive. “We hear so much about the high crime rate in Ecuador so it’s amazing that Cuenca has the lowest murder rate in South America, as well as the overall lowest violent crime rate,” he said. “People who live in Ecuador understand this, and that the violence is restricted to a relatively small area on the Pacific coast. They have always considered Cuenca to be the safest city in the country.”

McCormick adds: “It’s no surprise that Cuenca is attractive to North American and European expatriates.”

Curitiba, Brazil ranked second to Cuenca in Numbeo’s rankings. The rest of the top 10 cities were: