How we score
Every score on WHERE runs 0–100 and is relative to the 101 cities we cover, not to the whole world. A 90 means "near the top of this set", nothing more.
Your match percentage is a relative fit between your answers and a city's profile. It is not a probability, and we never pretend it is.
Scores come in three kinds, labeled below: measured from open data, derived from open data, or our judgment. If a score feels wrong, tell us on the result page. The "lived here" responses are how these numbers get better.
Measured
5 scoresAnchored to open datasets. If we got a number wrong, the source below is the arbiter.
Distance from city center to coastline, plus whether water is part of daily life (beaches, harbour city form).
Annual mean temperature and winter minimums, normalized.
Annual temperature amplitude between warmest and coldest months.
Population density of the lived core, normalized.
Direct international destinations from nearest hub airports.
Derived
7 scoresComputed proxies from open data. The inputs are public; the normalization is ours.
Metro population and continuous built-up intensity, normalized.
Inverse of typical cost of living for a comparable lifestyle; editorial smoothing across regions.
Street-grid continuity, mixed use, and pedestrian daily life.
Rail/metro coverage and reliability as a proxy for car-free living.
Share of foreign-born residents and English-friendliness of daily life.
Mountains, water, trails and wild places within an hour.
Blend of reported crime context and perceived night safety; smoothed editorially.
Our judgment
9 scoresCalibrated editorial scores. No dataset measures nightlife or a sense of place; we score them ourselves, test the rankings against sanity checks, and label them here so you never mistake them for measurements.
Calibrated judgment: density and lateness of nightlife.
Calibrated judgment: overall sensory and pace intensity.
Calibrated judgment: availability of calm daily life; loosely inverse of intensity.
Calibrated judgment: job market depth, ambition culture, startup and corporate presence.
Calibrated judgment: social acceptability of a slow life.
Calibrated judgment: distinctiveness and rootedness of local culture.
Calibrated judgment: museums, music, theatre, ideas per capita.
Calibrated judgment: depth of eating culture at every price point.
Calibrated judgment: schools, space, safety and childcare context for raising kids.
Rankings are re-checked against test personas before every data change. Nothing on WHERE is sponsored.
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