Mannheim is the best city in the world to live in
The second ugliest city in Germany is nowhere to be found in liveability rankings. Yet, having lived in the first and fourth most liveable cities, I still prefer Mannheim
There is a saying about Mannheim: it makes you cry twice — once when you arrive, and again when you have to leave. This was certainly true for me. Our research group was moving from Aachen to Mannheim, and I went to the city to look for an apartment. I was so shocked by the first impression that, while still on the train going back home, I started writing an email to a colleague. In that email, I asked if they might have an open position in their group, so I could avoid moving to Mannheim.
Remarkably, the saying held true again when we had to leave Mannheim a bit more than a year later. We were so sad because we had come to really like our life there. I would have been happy to live in Mannheim for ten more years if I had the chance.
There is obviously no such thing as the best city to live in. It depends on personal preferences, circumstances, and the stage of life. When I was young, I enjoyed living in Paris and hoped to be able to live there forever. When I visited the city for the last time, I was appalled by its inaccessibility. I was imagining how I would navigate these streets with a pram, and it seemed to be a nightmare. Most of the metro stations are simply inaccessible with all those stairs. I mean, at peak hours, squeezing myself in was already a challenge—imagine the luck I'd have with a pram.
So I definitely don’t want to move to Paris now. But I still love the city, and if someone names it as the best city in the world, I wouldn’t argue. Mannheim is a less obvious option, but I do believe that it would be a perfect choice for many people. The very high-level reasoning would be as follows:
It is better to live in a rich country.
Europe is better because it excels in social security and prioritises the high quality of life for ordinary citizens.
Germany is quintessentially European in this regard and has an additional advantage of being large.
Midsize German cities would offer no less than larger cities but also would be more affordable and easier to navigate.
And, finally, Mannheim has some advantages over other midsize cities thanks to its geographical location.
It is better to live in a rich country
People rarely migrate from rich to poor countries, so this statement probably does not require justification. On the other hand, I know people who prefer to live in poorer countries if this makes them richer, both in absolute terms—for example, if they earn their income from a rich country but live in a country with a substantially lower cost of living—and in terms of relative wealth.
For a short time, I myself was able to experience the attractions of being relatively rich. Just before I moved to Germany, my income significantly increased. In less than two years, my salary increased from below the median in Moscow, where I was living at the time, to the top 1-5%. This probably moved me to the upper middle class, something that had never happened before and has never happened since.
Just as an example, which I think might seem laughable to people who are actually rich, but still: at one point, I started to use Uber Comfort for everyday rides simply because it was more convenient and I could easily afford it. Never in my life had I been able to afford buying a car, and I used taxis only in rare cases when I needed to go to the airport and public transport was unavailable. So, suddenly being able to travel by car whenever I wanted felt cool, and I felt rich. However, I think it would be better to live in a city where one doesn’t need a car to comfortably travel. Another thing that I was able to afford with my new income was high-quality private healthcare. But again, I would prefer to live in a country where one doesn’t need to pay to have proper medical treatment.
I hate to admit it, but I enjoyed a new style of life not only because it was objectively of higher quality or more comfortable and convenient, but also because it made me feel like I belonged to the upper class, and that gave me a certain pleasure. This pleasure, however, was akin to the pleasure from desserts, not like the pleasure from eating tasty, healthy food. It was not healthy, was not clean, and was not guilt-free. So, I was really happy to move away. Who knows, maybe it would have corrupted me in the end and I would have become addicted to the new status. After all, I still can't stop eating too many desserts.
Europe
One thing that moving to Australia made me realise is how good Europe's quality of life is for ordinary citizens, even compared to other wealthy countries. Australia is by no means poor and ranks high on metrics like the Human Development Index. However, it lacks the European standard of social protections and consideration for the lives of ordinary citizens. For example, just in the past month, I've spent $1,000 on medical expenses that would have been entirely covered by my public health insurance back in Germany. Furthermore, Australians are entitled to a mere 10 days of sick leave annually, a stark contrast to Germany's six weeks per illness per year. And that is just with the initial type of insurance covering 100% of one's salary. After six weeks, another policy continues to provide substantial income protection. Parental leave in Australia is less than five months, compared to 14 months in many European countries.
Europe is also LGBTQ+-friendly, family-friendly, pedestrian-friendly, and labor-friendly. I don't think any other region does as much to protect and ensure a high quality of life for ordinary citizens. And you know how undisputed leaders are easily recognisable because they do not engage in competition? Like, if you need to prove you are good, then you are probably not good enough. I've heard in Australia that it is such an exceptional country. And many Americans (otherwise seemingly sane) claim that the USA is the best country in the world to live in. However, I do not remember such claims from Europeans. They just seem to be sometimes shocked when they find out other countries lack rights and services they’ve always taken for granted.
Germany
It might not be so important exactly where to live in Europe. After all, when I was living in Aachen, I could walk to the Netherlands for grocery shopping, and my hairdresser was in Belgium, just a 25-minute train ride away. Germany, however, stands out thanks to a strong social security, even by European standards, combined with a relatively low cost of living—aside from a few pricey cities like Munich. This offers more flexibility compared to similarly prosperous but more expensive countries such as Switzerland or Sweden.
Before moving to Germany, I didn't have a strong opinion about the country. It was just another European nation to me. But I grew to love it deeply and even thought of it as my home at some point. And I’ll always have a connection to the country since my son was born there. I’ve never felt as safe and calm as I did in Germany. Everything there just seems to work so smoothly and reasonably. Some of my friends say my memories are already affected by nostalgia and are overly rosy. They remember that I experienced my deepest depression there. But that was due to external factors, and I’m actually glad that period of my life happened in Germany. It could have been so much worse in a country without the proper support system.
Another advantage of Germany is that it is large. This is particularly important for migrants like me. In smaller countries, I might only be able to find a job in the capital or maybe the second-largest city. This could force me to move countries. While moving within Europe is relatively easy, there are many reasons to want to stay in one country: to accumulate the years necessary for permanent residence and citizenship, or to avoid making a child learn yet another language and adapt to a new educational system. Since Germany is large, it's easier to find a job there. One might need to change cities but can still stay within the same country. Its central location also makes it quite convenient for traveling.
Midsize cities
I grew up in a city of 5 million and then lived in three national capitals, so I've always identified as a big-city person. Because of that, I was worried about moving to Aachen, imagining it would be like living in a desert. This concern wasn't completely unfounded, as it was shaped by the realities of Russia. There is a clear divide between Moscow (and to a much lesser degree, Saint Petersburg) and the rest of the cities. Pre-war Moscow was a vibrant European capital with nice cafes, parks, and every imaginable good and service. In stark contrast, the rest of the country grappled with outdated infrastructure and a scarcity of high-quality goods and services.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine, there were many discussions around me suggesting that Europe is overrated and living in Russia is not so bad. This was largely because people compared Moscow to other European capitals, where it was indeed hard to find much difference. What really struck me was discovering that Moscow-level infrastructure and standards of living are available in smaller European cities. Everyone would be desperate to leave their Russian counterparts, but in these smaller cities, you can enjoy all the advantages without the hassle of large cities.
I was also surprised by the availability of goods, or more precisely, the availability of high-quality goods. For example, in Sydney, the choice is broader but not necessarily better. At a local chemist, I can find supplements from many brands, while in Germany, it would mostly be DoppelHerz. However, since I prefer DoppelHerz, I wouldn't need more brands of questionable quality. This holds true more generally, as Germany is renowned for its Mittelstand—mid-sized companies that produce high-quality local products. Here in Australia, we still regularly receive compliments on the shoes we bought for our son back in Germany, which always makes us nostalgic.
Moreover, if something is not immediately available, one could easily travel. Traveling from Aachen to the larger city of Cologne would actually be faster than my commute from home to office within Moscow.
And the advantage of medium-sized cities is that they are much more affordable. After experiencing the eye-watering rent prices of Paris and Sydney, I've come to really appreciate the cost of living in an average German city. Although cities like Munich, Frankfurt, and Berlin may not compete with the craziness of Sydney's rental market, life there can still be tough. Smaller cities are more affordable and also quieter and easier to navigate on foot.
Mannheim
At this point, Mannheim shouldn't be such a surprising choice for my favourite city since it enjoys all the advantages of being a mid-size German city. We've lived in the city centre, known as Quadrate, paying monthly rent similar to what we now pay in Sydney for just a week. The Quadrate is compact and has only straight streets (hence the name), making it very easy to navigate. Since everything needed for daily life, from home to office and from shops to doctors, could be found in the Quadrate, it was easily accessible by foot. In a typical week, I found no need for public transport, let alone the use of a car.
Mannheim also has a lot to offer. As I have mentioned, the size of European cities can be somewhat deceptive. While Mannheim’s population is 300,000, offering all the benefits of smaller cities, it also lies at the heart of the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region. You just need to cross a bridge—which I often did on foot with a pram—to be in another city. And Heidelberg is just a 15-minute train ride away. So, when my wife gifted me a ticket to an opera, traveling there was quicker than it would be in Moscow or Saint Petersburg, despite the theatre being in Heidelberg. The proximity of Heidelberg, with its famous medical school, probably explains the high quality of healthcare that we received in Mannheim.
I also find it quite useful that Mannheim is just 30 minutes by train from Frankfurt Airport—one of Europe's busiest hubs. This makes traveling by plane from Mannheim easier than from most European capitals. And Paris is just a three-hour train journey away. That's one of the things I really liked about Europe; I never felt that I lived in one city or even one country. Instead, I felt like I was living in Europe itself.
Mannheim is also home to an excellent university, several research institutes, and the offices of major companies in the region. Plus, the nature is quite nice along the banks of the Rhine and Neckar rivers.
As I have said, there is no such thing as the best city. I can easily imagine a wealthy individual preferring New York as their home base, gazing out at the cityscape from their penthouse and feeling the pulse of the world beneath their feet. I could also picture a happy family, deeply integrated into a small town's community and perhaps running a local business, where the grandmother of your schoolmate was also a classmate of your own grandmother. But for us—a middle-income migrant family—Mannheim is very hard to beat.
Ivan. Thanks. Your note articulated some of my thoughts. I live now in mid-size German city and enjoy it. Still, I miss some services from Moscow….