Toronto was just ranked the friendliest city in the whole world

Forget what you thought you knew about Toronto being the “screwface” capital of the world. It’s actually the friendliest city in the world, according to a new report.

Language learning app and e-learning platform Preply has created what it calls a “community spirit index,” ranking 53 cities around the world for how welcoming they are to visitors and non-natives.

The report uses six key metrics to get its results — visitor return rate, friendly staff, community respect, acceptance of diversity, happiness, and ease of communication through a common language.

To get this data, Preply looked at the number of accommodations mentioning “friendly” in each city, the safety index, LGBTQS+ equality, happiness index, and English proficiency index.

It turns out that of all 53 cities, Toronto has claimed the number one spot, making it the friendliest city in the world, according to Preply.

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Whether you agree with the report or not, Toronto boasts some impressive stats to justify its top score.

“Toronto boasts a very decent visitor return rate of 15%, which means that people who come to Toronto tend to love it so much that they come back again and again,” says Preply.

“With a happiness score of 7.03 out of 10 and a very high LGBTQ+ equality score of 90 out of 100, Toronto is an inclusive and welcoming place for everyone.”

Only one other Canadian city is included in the ranking and no, it’s not Vancouver.

The report has named Montreal as the 6th friendliest city in the world. Montreal’s “community respect” score is even higher than Toronto’s, at 68.39 compared to 57.55.

So, the next time you find yourself in Toronto or Montreal, don’t let the rude glances fool you — the locals are friendlier than they look!