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Montreal is still Canada’s top city for students but it just fell hard in a global ranking
<img src="https://www.mtlblog.com/media-library/people-walk-on-mcgill-university-s-campus.jpg?id=61243603&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=45%2C0%2C45%2C0"/><br/><br/><p>Montreal has long been considered one of the best cities in the world to study in, but its status just took a hit.</p><p>According to the newly released<a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/city-rankings" target="_blank"><em> <em>QS</em></em></a><em><a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/city-rankings" target="_blank"> Best Student Cities 2026</a></em> ranking, Montreal is now tied with Kyoto, Japan for 18th place globally — a noticeable dropoff from its <a href="https://www.mtlblog.com/best-cities-in-the-world-for-students-montreal" target="_blank">placement in last year's ranking</a>. While Montreal remains the highest-ranked Canadian city on the list, it's no longer in the global top 10, marking one of the sharper declines among major student destinations.</p><p>Toronto landed in 22nd place this year, and Vancouver did not crack the top 25.</p><p>The QS Best Student Cities ranking evaluates cities worldwide based on six main categories: University Rankings, Student Mix, Desirability, Employer Activity, Affordability, and Student View. To be eligible, a city must have a population over 250,000 and at least two universities featured in the latest <em>QS World University Rankings</em>. The latest iteration of that ranking saw local institutions, like <a href="https://www.mtlblog.com/tag/mcgill-university" target="_blank">McGill</a> and Université de Montréal, land among the top 70. </p><p>As a "student city," Montreal earned high marks for Student Mix and Student View but scored lower in Affordability and Employer Activity — areas where cities like Seoul, Tokyo, and Munich performed better.</p><p>Here are the top 25 cities on the 2026 list, along with their overall scores:</p> <ul> <li> Seoul, South Korea – Overall Score: 100</li> <li> Tokyo, Japan – Overall Score: 99.9</li> <li> London, UK – Overall Score: 97.1</li> <li> Munich, Germany – Overall Score: 96.3</li> <li> Melbourne, Australia – Overall Score: 95.7</li> <li> Sydney, Australia – Overall Score: 94.7</li> <li> Berlin, Germany – Overall Score: 93.3</li> <li> Paris, France – Overall Score: 93.3</li> <li> Zurich, Switzerland – Overall Score: 91.5</li> <li> Vienna, Austria – Overall Score: 90.8</li> <li> Singapore – Overall Score: 90.6</li> <li> Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Overall Score: 90.3</li> <li> Beijing, China – Overall Score: 89.7</li> <li> Taipei, Taiwan – Overall Score: 89.1</li> <li> Boston, USA – Overall Score: 88.5</li> <li> Edinburgh, UK – Overall Score: 88.5</li> <li> Hong Kong SAR – Overall Score: 88.3</li> <li> Kyoto, Japan – Overall Score: 87.8</li> <li> Montreal, Canada – Overall Score: 87.8</li> <li> Amsterdam, Netherlands – Overall Score: 87.4</li> <li> Lausanne, Switzerland – Overall Score: 87.1</li> <li> Toronto, Canada – Overall Score: 87.0</li> <li> New York, USA – Overall Score: 86.1</li> <li> Stockholm, Sweden – Overall Score: 85.2</li> <li> Auckland, New Zealand – Overall Score: 84.7</li> </ul> <p>You can check out the full QS ranking <a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/city-rankings" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p><em>Love this? Check out our <a href="https://www.mtlblog.com/notices/" target="_blank">MTL Blog noticeboard</a> for details on jobs, benefits, travel info and more!</em></p><p><em>AI tools may have been used to support the creation or distribution of this content; however, it has been carefully edited and fact-checked by a member of MTL Blog's Editorial team. For more information on our use of AI, please visit our <a href="https://www.mtlblog.com/editorial-standards" target="_blank">Editorial Standards page</a>.</em></p>
