Montreal ranks among top ten best cities for international students

Montreal has ranked as one of the best cities in the world for international students according to Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities for 2025.

Quebec’s largest city placed 10th in the ranking of 150 cities. It had an overall score of 92.1 out of a possible 100.

The top ten cities were:

• London
• Tokyo
• Seoul
• Munich
• Melbourne
• Sydney
• Paris
• Zurich
• Berlin
• Montreal

Toronto, Canada’s largest and most populated city, came in 11th place and Vancouver ranked 19th.

The QS Top Universities study considered six key categories when ranking universities around the world. For example, each city requires a population of more than 250,000 people and at least two universities featured in the recent QS World University Rankings.

Montreal is home to McGill University and Concordia University, both based in the downtown core.

Student mix

Aside from the results of the QS university ranking, the survey assigned scores under five other categories. For example, the “Student mix” category considered the proportion of students in the city’s population and how many of them are international students. It also factored in the inclusivity of the city and country where the universities are located.

According to Tourisme Montreal, the city hosts 40,000 international students from 150 countries each year.

In this instance, the study measured inclusivity by evaluating if the study environment is likely to be hospitable to students’ cultural backgrounds, lifestyles, and identities.

Desirability

The second category was desirability. This takes factors such as safety, pollution levels and how many respondents wanted to study in the city into consideration. Montreal scored 85.1 in this category while Toronto got 92.8.

Part of the score for this category was taken from previous surveys in which students were asked to identify their “dream student city.” This means the city they would choose if they could attend university anywhere in the world.

Employer activity

Employer activity was also a key category. It used data to find the cities that are the most popular recruiting grounds for employers looking to hire new graduates.

In addition to youth employment rates, it considers domestic employers who have singled out one local institution with the “best” graduates in their sectors.

International employer popularity also identified at least one institution with excellent graduates. The survey notes that this carries more weight than domestic employer popularity.

Toronto again took the highest score of all Canadian cities at 84.3. Vancouver also ranked higher than Montreal at 78.9 and 77, respectively.

Affordability

Montreal scored higher in affordability at 41.6. Comparatively, Toronto scored 21.2 and Vancouver scored 25.1. This was Toronto’s lowest score and could be responsible for the city missing a top ten spot in the overall rankings.

For perspective, Montreal is considered the 22nd most expensive place to rent an apartment in Canada according to Rentals.ca while Vancouver is the most expensive and Toronto is in third place.

The category also measured tuition costs and used the “Big Mac Index” (a common metric to examine retail costs of everyday items) to assign scores.

Student view

This category is based on how students rate their city for several factors including tolerance, diversity, transit, friendliness, nightlife, culture, and sustainability.

It also factors in how likely students are to stay in their city for at least one year after graduation. QS says this reflects student’s perspective on the availability of employment and their overall experience in a city.

Montreal scored 93.6 while Toronto scored 94.3.