We oft get caught in the yin-yang realities that make Honolulu a great place to live and the frustrations that come when too many things fester or simply don’t get done while we incessantly talk, plan, stall and accept apathy. Sometimes, it’s nice to get an outside perspective, like the one recently provided by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, sister company to The Economist newspaper.
The 2025 edition of the “best cities to live in the world” ranks Honolulu as the 23rd best city to live in worldwide, which makes us #1 in the U.S.A. Other U.S. cities on the list include Atlanta (29), Pittsburgh (30), Seattle (34), and Washington, D.C. (38). And yes, we can quibble with one another about tastes and preferences, but this list focuses on stability, healthcare, education, culture and environment, and infrastructure.
2025 marks the second consecutive year that Honolulu ranked as the list’s #1 U.S. city, who’s #1 – #10 are: Copenhagen, Vienna, Zurich, Melbourne, Geneva, Sydney, Osaka, Auckland, Adelaide, and Vancouver. A bunch of U.S. cities moved up the list in 2025, but the EIU claims that has as much to do with others falling as any great gains made by U.S. metropolises.
Infrastructure and stability negatively impacted New York (#69) and Los Angeles (#57), while Miami, Portland (OR.), Chicago, Indianapolis and Charlotte round out the top-ranked U.S. cities. Terrorism, crime, and civic unrest scares hurt numerous overseas cities over the past few years; the authors state that American cities’ “…weak gun-control laws… mean that crime undermines social cohesion”, but U.S. cities will probably see greater EIU evaluation with expected cutbacks in education and healthcare availability anticipated in coming years.
In a world of unrest, perhaps Honolulu retains its lofty position as a happy, relatively safe, culturally exciting place to spend some time- either as a resident or as a visitor. Perhaps we too often take for granted just what we do have here in our quest to make many things better for the future (whether next year or next decade).
Every big city’s got issues; some are more confounding and blatant than others (FYI- Damascus, Syria ranked last on the livability list). We should not take for granted what we’ve got, unless you prefer the perpetual grass-is-always-greener syndrome. Alas, many times that “grass” turns out to be artificial turf.
Think about it…