What's the most prestigious city in the world to live in?

I'm thinking in terms of global prestige, and for a primary residence. Is it really New York City? Or do you guys think it'd be perhaps somewhere in Europe? Here is my ranking.

  1. New York City
  2. Luxembourg, Switzerland
  3. Paris, France
  4. Dubai
  5. Singapore 
  6. Hong Kong
  7. Vienna, Austria
  8. London, UK
  9. Madrid, Spain
  10. Milan, Italy

I think probably a vacation house in Spain or Italy, on top of another one in Southampton, would be pretty sweet once you're a Goldman Sachs MD raking in the big bucks, but for a primary residence, you can't beat the prestige of New York. 

What do you guys think? 

113 Comments
 

1. NYC

2. Dubai

3. LA

4. Hong Kong

5. Shanghai

6. Vatican City

7. Milan
 
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12,350. London

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Phat

Are you serious about new york?

Dead serious. NYC is the top city in the world.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

This virus is only temporary - NYC will be back in full force. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

5. Shanghai

Lol get that s--- out of here. An authoritarian surveillance state isn't exactly "prestigious."

Shanghai has more billionaires than NYC 

-

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 
Funniest
GuyFromTheCity

Luxembourg, Switzerland

What do you guys think? 

These are 2 separate countries .... just sayin' XD

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Somewhere in Europe for sure. The US is too young a country for its cities to be the most prestige. Asian countries are old enough but they don't dominate the world now.

I vote for London.

 

Luxembourg is a country on its own. Also extremely boring, lots of back office work.

Zurich is also really boring. Geneva is somewhat nicer but people are insufferable.

Montecarlo is legitimately prestigious. You get top enterpreneurs, models and sportsmen as your average guy. 

Vienna is gorgeous.

Dubai has no culture

Never discuss with idiots, first they drag you at their level, then they beat you with experience.
 

How are the people in Geneva insufferable, generally curious

Quant (ˈkwänt) n: An expert, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
 

To make a fair comparison, in Montecarlo you will legitimately meet people who are at the very top of the world economy. The actual elite.

In Geneva, you will meet bureacrats who work for international organizations or similar upper class fields, yet act like they belong to the Monaco category. Very smug, unearned arrogance.

Never discuss with idiots, first they drag you at their level, then they beat you with experience.
 

NYC / LDN / HK - I'd go pick London since it's the most international.

*FYI Dubai has no prestige.

 

These cities are not the most prestigious, but I think their level of culture and sophistication is vastly underrated by most people:

-Chicago

-Mexico City

-Montreal

-Moscow

-Edinburgh

-Budapest

 
GuyFromTheCity

2. Luxembourg, Switzerland

hate to break it to you but Luxembourg is not in Switzerland

Quant (ˈkwänt) n: An expert, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
 

1) San Fran (Facebook, Moelis SV Office, Etc.) 2) New York 3) DC 4) Bangcok, China 5) London, UK

Facts & Logic over feelings, san fran has kicked NYs ass for the past decade.

 

MensaMan

3) DC

Why are you putting DC this high?

Quant (ˈkwänt) n: An expert, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
 

As someone who is fortunate enough to live for extended periods (minimum 4 years) in multiple cities and visit many others. I would rank it as so. Everyone has preferences, so I broke it into tiers

1) NYC - London (tie, most classic, powerful cities)

2) Los Angeles - Paris - Tokyo(pinnacle of entertainment, art & culture, and modern city design respectively)

3) Milan - Montecarlo - Moscow

 

What a hopeless ranking. Whoever is ranking Dubai as a "top" city has never been to the Emirates. Unless you're an Instagram influencer or have been on Geordie/Jersey Shore it is not top tier by any means. Also, Monte Carlo or "Montecarlo" is not a city - it's just a small part of Monaco from the casino and Cafe de Paris and around the bay area.

I don't know... Yeah. Almost definitely yes.
 

YoungDumbFullOfRum

1) London

2) Hong Kong

3) New York

4) Geneva / Zurich

5) Singapore

You live in London don’t you.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Luxembourg is its own country, is no one going to address this...

 

Why is Luxembourg even in this fucking list?! OP is a retard. Change Switzerland, Luxembourg now. My eyes hurt.

Luxembourg is a back office infested shit hole - this is where you put your shell co. I dreaded having to go there to go "present" to the board our investment ideas (IC was anyways in NY and London, just needed to show we had a link to Luxembourg).

London is fucking amazing - to answer categorically to one of the arguments in the post, the food is better than NY, simply because the ingredients haven't been manipulated to the core and actually taste like something - no transgenic OGM etc... non sense. You don't have to pay TAX + TIP on top - it's all included in the bill. Otherwise NY and London are different but comparable and at the top of Finance for everything and both amazing.

Paris is changing - but give the French a few years and they'll knock the bankers out of their pedestal in no time. Germany should never make any list, glad it's no where to be seen.

Geneva and Zurich - both different, but if you don't speak French in Geneva you are SOL. Both are much better than Monte Carlo, whoever put that on that list should be shot. It's a fiscal paradise for old farts that want to burn in the sun. We are not talking about visiting for a day and going to the Casino in this post, actually LIVING in those places.

Moscow is incredible - just amazing. Night life is off the hook. Just wow.

Hong Kong - I hate it - too hot and sweaty. Maybe I was too old when I went there, never will I want to live there however. If I need another intense city I'll take New York or London - fuck Hong Kong (a bit like what mainland is about to do to them)

Almost forgot to comment on Dubai - Jersey shore, fuck it. Bunch of wanker Brits who failed at home who go there. Shit hole country as Trump would say (bless him and give him the strength to go through his current ordeal, MAGA 2024)

West Coast of the US - nothing really international, very US based and centric - some tenuous links to Asia, but not enough to justify it. I lived on the West Coast, it's the most insular place out of everything we discussed above. Don't like it. I need to find people from all around the world around me to vibe.

 

Ulaanbaatar has high pollution and looks pretty depressing, but Mongolia itself looks like an interesting country.

Quant (ˈkwänt) n: An expert, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
 

God, this is hysterical..  Prestige can be shown so may different ways...With that...

  1. Vatican City (Holy See)
  2. Monaco-ville
  3. Orchard Road -- Singapore
  4. Knightsbridge -- London
  5. Potala Palace Region -- Lhasa, Tibet
  6. Ordino, Andorra
  7. Martha's Vineyard
  8. Geneva, Switzerland
  9. Pape'ete, French Polynesia
  10. Wherever you and your family are...
Namaste. D.O.U.G.
 

Some people either dont know what prestige means, or just haven't been to many places. It is definitely between some swiss cities, New York/wealty suburbs, LA hills, London and Monte Carlo. 

 

Best way to answer this is to look at where the Russian Oligarchs, Chinese billionaires or generally the new money billionaires are buying homes. These are the families that are trying to put their stamp in society, putting their wealth on display and buying “prestige” looking for acceptance from old world money. Best way to do this is to say, hey look I bought a 100 million dollar house in X city in y neighbourhood. IMHO the list goes like this...

1. London, All the billionaires have a place here and they buy it in neighbourhoods like Kensington, Knightsbridge Belgrave Square (billionaires square)

2. NYC, can’t mention prestige without this city on the list, world capital of art, fashion and finance, I recall reading somewhere a while back 432 park had a list of Chinese, Russian and Middle East billionaires getting their hands on this property (my take on Covid... it is a temporary thing, it’s New Fucking York City and this place always comes back and it will with a vengeance)

3. Monaco, French Riviera city with super friendly tax system where old school European dynasties (think the Rothschildl) mix it up with Russian Oligarchs, Chinese Princelings and the crown princes of Saudi Arabia

 

It has to be the Forbidden City. Just hear me out: you live in the FORBIDDEN city. That was where Chinese emperors used to live.

You cannot have more prestige living in a place that literally forbids people to live there...

Persistency is Key
 

That's a good point. An alternative is in the Old City of Jerusalem as close to the Foundation Stone on the Temple Mount as possible, or inside the Vatican. God = ultimate prestige.

Honorable mention: Mt. Olympus.

Quant (ˈkwänt) n: An expert, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
 

Monaco hands down. There is not a single country that is as wealthy as Monaco. Even if you’re someone with a 50 million net worth you will feel below average. That’s where the billionaires play. All the other big cities are not as high quality per capita. NYC has Harlem, queens etc. Monaco doesn’t have a “bad” area. There hasn’t been a single violent crime in decades. To get citizenship you deposit 5 million into a Monaco bank account. Most have never been to Monaco but once you visit it blows away any other big cities like nyc, Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc 

 

Surprised at all the love for London - it too has its problems. Crime infested, homelessness, dirty, insanely expensive property market, crap weather, low salaries, list goes on

 

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