How does Ho Chi Minh City retain the 'best in the world' residents?

Lively, modern but still full of affection and familiarity

The City Pulse 2025 report by the Gensler Research Institute, recently cited by The Independent Singapore News, shows a proud result: Ho Chi Minh City has surpassed a series of other famous cities in the world such as Singapore (59%), Sydney (Australia, 58%) and Berlin (Germany, 51%) to rank 2nd in the list of cities with the best resident retention in the world in 2025. Ho Chi Minh City was reported by 61% of residents participating in the survey that they "have no plans" or "very little plans" to move, closely followed by the leading city, Taipei (Taiwan) with a rate of 64%.

Photo: Independence

The study, conducted by the world’s largest architecture and design firm, looked at the responses of 33,000 respondents in 29 countries and territories about their motivations for staying or leaving the city where they live. The survey results showed that people will choose to move to cities where their basic needs are met. When asked to identify the most important qualities when deciding where to live, the majority of survey respondents said that cost of living ranked highest (83%), followed by crime (81%), high-quality healthcare (80%), employment opportunities (74%) and tax rates (70%). Climate change was also a concern for many, as people tend to move away from cities that are vulnerable to it.

On the other hand, what keeps residents in a city is enjoyment of life and a sense of belonging. "The longer people live in a city, the less likely they are to leave, largely due to a deepening sense of pride and attachment. Urban vibrancy and attractiveness are the strongest motivators for people to choose to stay in their city," added the representative of the Gensler Institute.

This is also what many people feel about Ho Chi Minh City. Happily announcing his 10th anniversary of living in Ho Chi Minh City by registering his marriage with his beautiful Vietnamese wife, Mr. TDBoissonnet (France) said that he had finally found the perfect choice for his life, after many years of traveling around the world to pursue a career at a multinational travel consultancy. Before coming to Ho Chi Minh City in 2015, Mr. Boissonnet lived and worked in Portugal. This Western European country is where he grew up, after his family left France. However, the demand for tours between France and Portugal was not high, so he was transferred to Ho Chi Minh City to expand his customer base.

"As soon as I set foot in Ho Chi Minh City, I fell in love with this city. The dynamism, bustle, and cultural diversity are very suitable for a tourist who loves to explore like me. Especially the food and service are wonderful. When I first arrived, I could just walk out the door and catch a taxi or motorbike taxi, without having to look for the right place like in European countries. When I entered the hotel, the staff would pick me up at the door and carry my suitcase. If you were in the US, you would have to carry your own suitcase, even if you had to carry it up several floors. The food is wonderful and diverse. I like to take my girlfriend to find fancy restaurants and eat the best food, but in Ho Chi Minh City, sometimes the sidewalk shops and alleys are just too delicious. Most importantly, Ho Chi Minh City tourism is growing, I have welcomed many groups of guests from France and everyone loves this city. That makes my work more and more convenient," Mr. TDBoissonnet shared. After many years of traveling back and forth between Portugal and Ho Chi Minh City, the couple finally decided to sell their house in Portugal, settle down in Ho Chi Minh City and register their marriage on the auspicious day of August 8, 2025.

Like Mr. TDBoissonnet, Mr. Marcel Lannartz (Dutch) spent nearly 10 years moving back and forth between the two countries before deciding to settle in Ho Chi Minh City in 1997. He said: "I think that evaluating whether a city is worth living or not depends on each person's thinking, but when asking many foreigners like me, most will say that the food and people here are the two most important factors. For me, I love Ho Chi Minh City because I have witnessed its changes, becoming a bustling, crowded, modern but also extremely emotional city. I have a group of jogging friends living in Ho Chi Minh City, they are really friendly and cheerful. My friends make me feel familiar like I am at home, so I decided to stay."

Ho Chi Minh City will be even more livable

Not only attracting foreign residents, Ho Chi Minh City also tops the list of localities that people across the country want to migrate to, according to the report "Provincial Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI): Measured from People's Practical Experience, 2023" published in 2024.

Compared to other provinces and cities, the cost of living to maintain life in this splendid city is not an easy problem to solve, but according to many young "provincial people" living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, this is an easy place to live, both literally and figuratively. "Ho Chi Minh City is fine", is the comment of many people. Low-income people rent houses in areas far from the center, eat breakfast with a 10,000 - 15,000 VND sandwich, lunch and dinner with a 20,000 VND broken rice box, a 15,000 VND noodle bowl... and still have enough to relax with a 7,000 VND cup of coffee. Middle-income people can easily rent mid-range apartments, enjoy countless services corresponding to their standard of living. For the rich, it goes without saying, Ho Chi Minh City is number 1 in terms of services. Besides, Ho Chi Minh City is the economic locomotive of the whole country, most of the large enterprises gather here, opening up many job opportunities. Social security policies such as free tuition for students at all levels; support for young people to get married and have children early... are also pioneered from Ho Chi Minh City.

In particular, after the historic merger with Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, the new Ho Chi Minh City has opened up more space for the dreams of many people to settle down and make a living. Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc, on the first day of announcing the decision to establish the new Ho Chi Minh City, set the goal of turning Ho Chi Minh City into a special urban area, striving to be in the top 100 most livable cities in the world by 2030. With such a big strategy, the head of the City People's Committee called on units to shift from the "management - control" model to "administration - service", taking efficiency as the measure. Abandon the mindset of being too formal with the people: people do not ask - we do not give, but people are the ones who order, and the government is the unit providing services. Along with that, people will enjoy convenient and smooth public administrative products; at the same time, promote economic development, attract many investors, people have jobs, and effective production and business...