Barcelona’s international reputation has flourished in recent years and it took the judges’ votes across almost all categories to rank ahead of nine Iberian cities. Although Barcelona remains competitive on wage costs, particularly against other Spanish locations, rental costs in cities such as Porto, Lleida and Girona are significantly lower.

Porto ranked as the top Portuguese city, followed closely by Lisbon. Despite the high percentage of university graduates in Porto, average salaries remain low: €12,000 a year for a secretary, €17,000 for a middle manager and €7 an hour for manual