North America's Most Livable City For 2025 Is A West Coast Film Hub Surrounded By Nature (And It's Not Hollywood)

When you hear the words "West Coast film hub," it wouldn't be surprising if your mind jumped straight to the star-studded razzle-dazzle of Hollywood. However, in this case, North America's most livable city for 2025 is Vancouver — an idyllic and safe destination for your first solo trip. Encircled by ocean and mountains, the city is a friendly and vibrant hub that also serves as the gateway to a beautiful Canadian archipelago, including one of Canada's best island getaways with farmers markets, beaches, and boutiques.

Deemed the most livable city in North America for 2025 by The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2025 Global Livability Index, Vancouver ranks in 10th place worldwide. The city, playfully referred to by many as Raincouver due to frequent wet weather, is no stranger to a high position on this index, placing in the top five worldwide in both 2021 and 2022. The index looks at a number of factors across 173 cities around the world to come up with its findings, including health care, education, stability, infrastructure, and environment.

Vancouver's overall score on the index is 95.8 compared to the average of 76.1. The city's strengths include its educational institutions, rich diversity and natural beauty, and political and social stability. It's the only Canadian city to appear in the index's top 10. Toronto appears in 12th place on the index, while Calgary dropped significantly to 18th place from the top 10 in 2024.

While Hollywood, California, has a worldwide reputation for being the film capital of the United States, some people might not know that its Canadian neighbor is the third biggest film production hub in North America. Nicknamed "Hollywood North", some of the world's most well-known blockbusters were shot in Vancouver, including "Jurassic World Dominion," "Deadpool & Wolverine," "I, Robot," and "Fifty Shades of Grey", to name a few. Film buffs could go on quite a movie filming locations tour of this vibrant hub.

Aside from its thriving downtown and endless entertainment opportunities, one of the most intriguing things about Vancouver is its abundance of natural beauty, which is one crucial aspect of its ranking on the Livability Index, and for good reason. British Columbia as a whole is home to jaw-dropping beauty in every direction. This includes Canada's Sunset Coast with its mountains and beaches, as well as the region's vast array of stunning islands, like Vancouver Island, Salt Spring Island, and North Pender Island.

With its location on the western half of the Burrard Peninsula set against the backdrop of the North Shore Mountains, you can embrace the natural beauty of this city from almost any angle. Visitors to Vancouver can traverse the natural West Coast rainforest of Stanley Park and its beautiful beaches and numerous trails as one great way to experience this city's nature in abundance. Or, you can rent a boat, kayak, or canoe to explore the stunning waterways and catch the high-rise buildings against the mountains from the ocean. No matter what you do, you'll be impressed by the endless amounts of prettiness at every turn.