Fortune Best Cities in Europe For Business Methodology 2024

The Fortune Best Cities in Europe for Business ranks the largest cities in each European country based on their attractiveness to businesses, economic vitality, and the quality of life they offer employees. 

The criteria used include: population size; economic contribution measured by gross value add; labor productivity; population aging measured by natural population growth; migration; corporate and personal tax rates; cost of living;  prevalence of Fortune 500 Europe companies; ranking of the top local university, incidence of robberies; sunshine hours; local perceptions of the quality of living (including educational facilities, healthcare, housing quality and affordability, public transport quality and affordability, local authority efficiency, corruption, green spaces, air quality, and the city’s cultural offering); inhabitants’ overall satisfaction with the city; and travel times to the airport by car and by public transport.

The list includes key cities in most European countries for which sufficient data is available. Metrics were gathered for all criteria. Cities were ranked on all criteria individually and all individual rankings were aggregated into the combined ranking with equal weights for all criteria. City data was used for all metrics except corporate and income tax and price levels (cost of living).

The underlying analysis is based on data from Eurostat supplemented by independent research to fill in missing data points. Data is for 2023 or most recent available. 

The year’s Fortune Best Cities in Europe for Business list was created by Lists Director Europe Grethe Schepers and Fortune’s Research Analyst Elena Medina.