A new ranking by Compare the Market has compiled a list of the “best cities for a quiet living”, and Munich has made it into the top 10.

Compare the Market’s cities for quiet living

To decide which cities best offer a peaceful environment, Compare the Market applied eight factors to 50 international cities. These factors included; crime, walking trails, yoga studios, political peace, population, traffic congestion, clubs and bars, and public gardens. 

“Once the data for the factors [were] collected, the factors were then normalised, to provide each factor with a score of between 0 and 1. If data was not available, a score of 0 was given,” Compare the Market explained. “The normalised values were then summed, to give each location a total score out of 8. The locations were then ranked from highest to lowest, based on their total scores.”

With all factors considered, the Austrian city of Graz came in place number one, known for its resemblance to Tuscany and abundance of historical sites. The Australian capital of Canberra came in second, with Zurich rounding out the top three.

Munich ranked as the eighth most peaceful city

The capital of Bavaria came in at number eight, given particular praise for its Englischer Garten, which the ranking pointed out is “bigger than New York’s Central Park”. It’s true, Munich’s park comes in at 427 hectares compared to a measly 341 h in Central Park. Wooded paths, lakes and the nearby ski resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen were also given a shout-out.

The ranking also pointed readers to additional important factors to consider when picking out a more peaceful place to move (such as public transport links or access to amenities), but the affordability of housing in Munich - or indeed any city in the ranking - went unmentioned. 

While the German housing market has just seen the biggest price drop in 60 years, according to an assessment by the property portal Immowelt published in early 2023, a family of three in Munich have to fork out 823.590 euros to buy a 90-square-metre property. Paid out by a family of three with one child, with one adult working full-time hours and the other working part-time, monthly payments of 4.255 euros (according to interest rates in early 2023) would snatch a staggering 88 percent of an average family’s monthly income - not a scenario likely to engender inner peace.

10 best cities for quiet living, according to Compare the Market

Overall, these were the 10 best cities for quiet living, according to Compare the Market:

1. Graz
2. Canberra
3. Zurich
4. Sydney 
5. Helsinki
6. Vienna
7. Brno
8. Munich
9. Copenhagen 
10. Stockholm

Thumb image credit: AllesSuper / Shutterstock.com