Its historic core, known for its architecture and greenery, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city is globally recognized for its museums, cafes, classical music heritage and liveability. The city regularly ranks at the top of quality‐of‐life surveys: Monocle’s Quality of Life Survey 2025 placed it in the top ten most liveable cities in the world and best in the housing category; and Mercer’s Quality of Living City Ranking 2024 and the Global Liveability Index both placed Vienna 2nd worldwide.

Vienna is a rapidly growing metropolis, now home to more than 2 million residents (City of Vienna, 2024). It’s also a major research and university hub with a highly educated population working in fields ranging from life sciences and tech to the creative industries. As an official seat of the UN and other major international organizations, including the OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and the OSCE (the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe), Vienna is proud of its diversity and internationality.

Economy and business

Vienna’s key business sectors include life sciences, creative industries, sustainable technologies, edtech, fintech and ICT – it is one of the largest IT metropolises in Europe alongside London and Munich. It’s a hotspot for biotech, pharma, medtech and cutting-edge research in particular. According to the Vienna Life Science Report 2024/25, the city is home to 750 life sciences companies and institutions, and the sector generates around €22.7 billion (~$25.3 billion) in annual revenue. This environment is reflected in Vienna’s innovation record: two researchers connected to the University of Vienna recently received Nobel Prizes: Anton Zeilinger was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2022 for his work on quantum entanglement, and Emmanuelle Charpentier received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020 for her work on CRISPR-Cas9 technology.

The City of Vienna actively supports businesses through the Vienna Business Agency (Wirtschaftsagentur Wien — vienna.business), which helps to develop the business sector through expert consultations, funding, training and networking, with a particular view to strengthening and promoting the business location in ways that advance sustainability, innovation, quality of life and diversity. It also directly supports international companies, startups and expats looking to settle in the city. The City of Vienna’s Business Locations 2024 reports that there were 9,483 new enterprises created in 2023, with 42% being female founded, and 227 foreign companies moved to the city in the same year, more than half of the country’s total. 

Every year, the Vienna Business Agency hosts ViennaUP, working with key ecosystem players to create a city-wide festival of entrepreneurship and innovation that brings together over 10,000 founders, visionaries, investors and policy makers from around Europe and beyond. Other important annual tech conferences include the Agile Tour Vienna, DevFest Vienna, Uxcon Vienna, B2b Software Days (bi-annual), Green Peak Festival and Invest.Austria Conference.

Living in Vienna

Life in Vienna means enjoying excellent public services, safety and cultural offerings. More than 50% of the city’s area is dedicated to parks, gardens and the Danube floodplain, creating easily accessible green spaces and natural bodies of water. Public transit is extensive and affordable, with an annual adult transit pass costing only €365. For those who love culture, Vienna is unmatched. It has more than 50 world-renowned museums, including the Kunsthistorisches Museum (housing thousands of works of art dating from antiquity to the late Baroque period) and the Albertina (housing more than one million artworks, including masterpieces by Picasso, Monet and Renoir). Residents can experience world-class performances at the Vienna State Opera, the Volksoper Wien, and classical music at concert halls such as the Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philharmonic. The Burgtheater, Austria’s national 1,200-seat theater world-renowned for its architecture and history, is located near the MuseumsQuartier which encompasses 60 museums, galleries and cultural initiatives. The city’s historic coffeehouses, such as Café Central, Café Sperl and Café Hawelka, recognized by UNESCO as intangible heritage, remain essential meeting places for students, intellectuals and business people alike.

Vienna’s population is culturally diverse, with international residents making up around 45% of the population, and housing and social policy have kept living costs relatively stable. The city is internationally recognized for its successful social housing system, which provides affordable, high-quality apartments and helps prevent housing shortages. It offers citizens open-ended tenancy contracts without equity, commission, contractual fee or deposit. According to the organization House our Neighbors (2024), affordable social housing is available to 75% of the city’s population via either government-managed municipal units or publicly subsidized housing. 

Sustainability and environment

Vienna has a history of being at the forefront of sustainability and green infrastructure. A government plan from the 19th century ensured clean drinking water for all, and the drinkable tap water (sourced from the Alps) is also supplied via 1,300 public fountains, reducing plastic bottle use. 

As far back as 1999, the city launched its first Climate Protection Programme, and by 2024 had already cut per-capita CO₂ emissions by nearly 40%. The government is now working to become a carbon-neutral city. A new Vienna Climate Act, passed in 2025, mandates a climate roadmap and budget as well as mandatory climate-impact checks on new policies. The goal is for the city administration and infrastructure to operate with net-zero emissions by 2040, in line with EU targets. The city has one of Europe’s largest district-heating systems, and it plans to phase out fossil gas completely by 2040 in favor of renewables. As part of the transition to green mobility and green energy, it is also continuously expanding public transport and cycling networks. Vienna also has climate mitigation in place, such as its extensive flood protection: the Danube Island levee system. By integrating ecological goals and climate measures with social equity, the city offers a high quality of living and is resilient for the future.

‍