Dublin has been ranked sixth overall in the 2026 Global Cities Index, but has fallen as low as 90th when it comes to quality of life.
The index, produced by Oxford Economics, compares 1,000 cities around the world across areas including economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance.
Dublin performed particularly strongly in the environment category, ranking ninth worldwide.
The report said the city benefits from a temperate climate, low pollution levels and ambitious climate initiatives, including a goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2030.
However, Dublin's quality of life ranking tells a different story, with housing costs identified as one of the city's key weaknesses.
The findings come as Dublin continues to face major pressure on housing, with rents, house prices and homelessness remaining significant issues.
The latest figures from Daft.ie show that the average market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Dublin was €2,551 per month in the second quarter of 2026. That was around 16% higher than the national average of €2,204.
The supply of rental properties also remains tight. Just 1,123 homes were available to rent in Dublin at the beginning of August, down 18% on the same point in the previous quarter.
Rents in Dublin were also 6.5% higher in June 2026 than a year earlier, according to the latest Daft rental report.
The pressure is not limited to renters. The latest figures show the average transaction price for a three-bedroom semi-detached house nationally has reached €453,000, while typical prices per square metre for a three-bedroom semi-detached home in Dublin ranged from €4,350 to €6,810 in the second quarter of this year.
The cost of housing is also being reflected in household finances.
According to the Central Statistics Office, more than one in four Irish households, or 26.6%, considered their housing costs to be a heavy financial burden in 2025. Among households renting or living rent-free, that figure rose to 35.8%.
The CSO also found that 44.8% of households had at least some difficulty making ends meet last year, while 36.9% had no money left to set aside at the end of a typical month.
Housing costs are also closely linked to poverty. The CSO found that 19.7% of people would have been at risk of poverty in 2025 if rent and mortgage interest were deducted from their income. Among people living in rented or rent-free accommodation, that figure rose to 45.2%.
The scale of the housing crisis can also be seen in Dublin's homelessness figures.
The latest Department of Housing figures show that 12,429 people were in emergency accommodation in Dublin in August 2026, including 4,158 children. There were 1,899 families in emergency accommodation in the capital.
Nationwide, the number of people in emergency accommodation reached a record 17,885 in August, including 5,830 children.
The shortage of affordable housing is also reflected in the demand for social housing. In South Dublin County Council, the average waiting time for an allocation completed up to the end of August 2026 ranged from 5.8 years for a one-bedroom home to more than 10 years for a three-bedroom home.
While the housing situation weighs heavily on Dublin's quality-of-life ranking, the city continues to perform strongly in other areas.
Oxford Economics points to access to top-tier institutions including Trinity College Dublin, as well as Dublin's highly skilled workforce, as key strengths.
The report also highlights Dublin's high GDP per capita, although it warns that this figure can be misleading because multinational companies account for a significant portion of the city's economic activity and it does not necessarily reflect the underlying health of the local economy.
Dublin ranked 58th globally for governance, while it performed particularly strongly in the environment category, coming in ninth.
The five cities ranked above Dublin overall were New York, London, Paris, Seattle and San Francisco.
Dublin outperformed all five in the environment category, although eight other cities ranked ahead of it, including Honolulu, Fortaleza and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
