It's Official Again — Cuenca Is the Best City in South America for Quality of Life

The Numbers

Numbero's 2026 quality-of-life index ranks Cuenca first in South America with a score of 152.96 points — classified as "Very High" on their international scale. Last year the city scored 144.9. In 2016 it was at 140.

That's not a spike. That's a decade-long climb, and it's accelerating.

Lorena Guillem, director of the Fundación Turismo para Cuenca, put it simply: "El año anterior tuvimos una puntuación de 144.9, este año hemos alcanzado 152.9."

What Numbeo Actually Measures

Numbero compiles data from residents and visitors over a rolling three-year period. The categories that matter: safety, healthcare quality, cost of living, climate, traffic/commute, and purchasing power.

Cuenca's strongest scores:

• Climate index: 98.36 — essentially perfect. If you've lived through a Cuenca April, you already know.
• Health system: 79.78 — high by regional standards.
• Traffic index: 34.60 — low number = less congestion. The tranvía gets credit here.

Why Cuenca Keeps Climbing

Urbanist Felipe Espinoza emphasized this isn't luck: "No es un evento fortuito, sino el resultado de una gestión técnica." — Not a fluke, but the result of technical management.

The contributing factors the study highlights:

• The tranvía and multimodal transit system
• Historic center walkability — El Centro remains one of the most pedestrian-friendly downtowns on the continent
• Municipal water quality — ETAPA's system consistently ranks among Ecuador's best
• River linear parks along the Tomebamba, Yanuncay, Tarqui, and Machángara — Cuenca's four-river system is genuinely unusual for a city this size
• Controlled urban expansion — the city hasn't sprawled into formless suburbia the way Guayaquil or Quito have

What This Means for You

If you already live here, this is validation of what you already feel walking out the door every morning. Cuenca's quality of life isn't an accident — it's infrastructure, geography, and a municipal government that's been consistently competent on the basics.

If you're still on the fence about moving, this is the data point you send to the skeptical family member back home.

The ranking also matters for property values and cost of living — international attention tends to push both upward over time. Cuenca is still far cheaper than comparable cities in Colombia or Mexico, but the gap narrows every year the city tops these lists.

Source: El Universo