No city is all sunshine and rainbows, but Los Angeles actually comes close—you know, in a literal, meteorological sense at least. There are some metaphorical clouds (home ownership… what’s that?) but in just about every other way, we love L.A.
We’re not the only ones to shout “we love it!” either: In Time Out’s 2024 list of the 50 best cities in the world, L.A. ranked 17th, right between São Paulo and Amsterdam. (New York took the top spot in the list.)
The list was curated with the help of Potentia Insight, who assisted us in surveying thousands of city-dwellers around the world about aspects like affordability, food and museums, and that data was then combined with insights from our local editors around the globe.
L.A. scored particularly high for its food scene, which netted an 89% approval rating in the survey. That’s not shocking if you’ve been dining out or following our recent restaurant coverage: This past year alone brought impressive additions like wow-worthy pasta at Funke, standout omakase at Sushi Sonagi and Japanese-Mexican mariscos at Loreto.
Of course, the most exciting developments in L.A. recently haven’t solely been culinary: Cinephiles can again flock to the century-old Egyptian and Vista Theatres, revived by Netflix and Quentin Tarantino respectively, while the intimately-mid-sized concert venue the Bellwether and multi-themed club Level 8 have reawakened DTLA’s after-dark offerings. As for navigating between them all, a trio of new line-linking subway stops have made the Metro remarkably more useful.
And, to bring it back to where we started, the weather absolutely plays into L.A.’s placement—but not just because of abundant sunshine. After years of drought, welcome wet weather these past couple of years has reinvigorated already-stunning natural retreats across the city with seasonal snowy mountaintops and colorful carpets of flowers.
You can read the full ranking of Time Out’s best cities in the world here.