The happiest city in the world is in the UK

For the annual Time Out’s Best Cities in the World with Intrepid Travel, we dig into all the things that make cities great. From culture to food, parks to nightlife, transport to communities, 24,000 urbanites across the world told us what they think of all the stuff that their hometowns have to offer. But as good as they may be, none of those things really matter if locals don’t feel happy where they are. 

So, we also asked respondents five questions about how happy their hometown makes them, how content the people around then seem and how much joy they find on a daily basis. Once all the responses came in and we added up all the scores, a rather surprising UK city emerged as number one.

Ranking above the likes of sunny Melbourne, friendly Chicago, culture-packed São Paulo and leafy Medellín, the happiest city in the world right now is... Bath. 

The Somerset city earned near-perfect scores for almost every question. Ninety-three percent of Bath locals told us that living in the city makes them happy, 92 percent said they feel happier there than elsewhere, 90 percent reported that their neighbours seem positive, 91 percent said that they find joy in the everyday experiences Bath offers and 76 percent agreed that the sense of happiness in their city has grown a lot recently. 

Our levels of happiness also ride a lot on how close we feel to the people around us, and Bath excels there too. In fact, it took the top spot globally when it came to people’s sense of community. Eighty-three percent of residents told us that they it’s easy to find community and 86 percent said that they feel a sense of belonging there.

Name any other ingredient for happiness and Bath probably has it. The Somerset city also topped the rankings for green space and nature, came 16th in our most beautiful cities ranking with a score of 60 percent and in 2025, Michelin named it the planet’s most exciting destination for food. 

☀️ See Time Out’s full ranking of the world’s happiest cities here. 

ICYMI: One of the world’s 50 best islands is in the UK. 

Plus: Three of the most beautiful cities in the world are in the UK. 

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