Let’s start with the basics: Vienna is the best city in the world to live in.

With unmatched infrastructure, the city presents a fantastic opportunity to have the ultimate work-life balance. Compact Vienna is easily and quickly navigated, with short distances to natural beauty. The vast Prater park in the 2^nd district is an oasis for joggers, walkers, cyclists, and even horse riders, and indeed 50% of the city’s area is green. 63 kilometres along natural bodies of water, including the blue Danube, offer alternatives to the many public swimming pools.

Most travel around the city on foot, bike or using Vienna’s excellent and extensive public transport network, which includes the underground, tram, train, and bus network. Vienna’s annual ticket for adults costs €365, which comes to a very reasonable €1 per day (school-age children pay far less). For comparison, an equivalent ticket for Berlin costs more than twice as much, will put you back around €1,000 in Paris and upwards of £4,000 in London!

Those with an urban bent enjoy Vienna’s world-renowned concert halls, theatres, museums, and other artistic spaces. A burgeoning restaurant scene offers everything from hipster kebab to Michelin-starred excellence, and of course the 2,000 plus coffee houses offer plenty of opportunities to meet friends or indulge in some people watching.

But don’t simply take our word for it: This year alone, The Economist ranked Vienna top in the Global Liveability Index 2023 (for the fourth time), it was awarded best ‘organic city’ in the EU Organic Awards 2023, came top in the Monocle Quality of Life Survey, and has topped Mercer's Quality of Living City Ranking every year since 2009.

Vienna is geographically in the logistical heart of Europe and, due to its excellent infrastructure, ideally positioned to take strategic advantage of all parts of Europe and European trade and connections. 

The Austrian capital boasts one of the European Union’s strongest economies and additionally profits from deep historic ties to emerging Eastern European markets. The confluence of East and West makes Vienna a key hub for business and international exchanges. 

The international airport in Vienna offers direct flights to all but two European capitals – Ljubljana and Bratislava, which are easily reached via the dense and sophisticated train, bus and road network branching out from the city. Every other European capital can be reached from Vienna in less than three hours by air. 

The German-speaking region of Europe includes the economic powerhouses of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Comprising around 100 million consumers, DACH is an attractive market for many international businesses – and itself an essential foothold for doing business across the European Union. 

Austria shares a common language and cultural similarities with the region, and demonstrates impressive market potential. As a compact, technologically-advanced country with a transparent system of administration, it is the perfect test market for the rest of the region. Austrian distributors and other partnering companies have deep knowledge of and ties to the rest of the region, and most do speak English. Vienna is an ideal location from which companies can fine-tune their DACH-region marketing and distribution strategies. 

Not only do professional, educated individuals flock to Vienna as expats, but the city produces highly-skilled workers in droves.

Vienna has a very large and vibrant student population (around 200,000 people), with dozens of universities and colleges. This means that the city boasts a large, young and highly-skilled workforce. This is especially true for technical professions thanks to the country’s unique technical college system (HTLs), which educate select pupils in technical and engineering fields from a young age, such that these graduate from secondary school with a high level of knowledge in specific STEM fields as well as excellent English-language skills. These young adults often go on to further technical studies or enter apprenticeships at engineering companies. 

Around 50,000 of those students are enrolled in a further education course alongside their job with the aim of acquiring additional qualifications which will benefit them in their career, often specific to their field of work. 

As a result of the importance placed on further education, Vienna can pride itself on being a city brimming with academics and those who value learning and development. 

The city of Vienna invests heavily in research and development and life sciences. Consequently, this is a global capital for Biotech, Pharma, MedTech and Digital Health.

The number of workers in Vienna’s research and development sector has increased by more than 15% since 2014. Approximately 600 life sciences organisations employ 41,000 people (the 3^rd most in Europe) and turn over €13.3 billion (2020). 

Vienna offers a dense funding network for research and development through organizations such as The Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) or the Vienna Business Agency. 

As testament to the thriving scientific climate, major health companies such as Hookipa (USA), Boehringer Ingelheim (Germany) and Takeda (Japan) – along with countless others – maintain major facilities in Vienna. Explore the websites of life science network LISAVienna to see who else is in the city, and parent organization Life Science Austria to see which companies are in surrounding areas.

When people think of Vienna, often the city’s rich past comes to mind. But Vienna is a forward-thinking capital with ambitious plans for a sustainable and ‘smart’ future. 

Smart City Vienna has long prioritised urban planning in order to create and maintain green spaces, high architectural standards, safe and lively neighbourhoods and climate resilience. This benefits local and international investors and strengthens Vienna’s position as a cosmopolitan, economic hub. 

The City works hard to maintain robust infrastructure, consume resources sparingly, be energy efficient and use renewable energy where possible, all while reducing public spending without compromising quality. This is outlined in the ‘VIENNA 2030 – Economy & Innovation’ strategy. Vienna is a world leader in areas such as health, smart solutions, culture and creativity, and international dialogue. Flagship projects focus on human-oriented digitalisation, sustainable urbanisation, strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship, and harnessing technological change.

Since 1992, the City of Vienna has focused on making the city safer and more accessible for women, as well as mainstreaming gender equality considerations throughout other aspects of the policy-making process. 

This includes taking measures like widening pavements and introducing lifts, improving street lighting and installing more benches, and even building housing complexes designed for the working woman and mother.

Open and inclusive mindsets make Vienna a great place for female entrepreneurs. Around one third of companies in Austria are led by women, and Vienna hosts the most networking events for women in Europe. The Female Factor and Female Founders are just two international organizations headquartered in Vienna that support women in fulfilling their career and leadership potential. Fund F, part of the Female Founders network, is a new venture capital fund focusing solely on women-led startups.

Viennese businesses profit from excellent infrastructure. Stable, reliable broadband internet connections make virtual connections easy. In the physical world, road, rail and tram networks are far reaching and well maintained. On average, a 10-kilometre journey by car takes 22 minutes, although the majority of Viennese prefer to get around using public transport. In a rush to catch a flight? You only need to calculate for 20 minutes for your taxi to get from the city centre to the airport, or 16-23 minutes by train. 

The international airport in Vienna offers direct flights to all but two European capitals – Ljubljana and Bratislava, which are easily reached via the dense and sophisticated train, bus and road network branching out from the city. Every other European capital can be reached from Vienna in less than three hours by air.

In addition to their first-rate public transport network, Vienna’s inhabitants are also fiercely proud of the city’s water quality, and rightly so. Austria is among the countries with the safest, highest quality drinking water in the world, and almost all of Vienna’s water is spring water. Fun fact: in as early as 1888, 90% of Vienna’s residential buildings had access to clean drinking water. 

Vienna has a large and established expat community of around 25,000 people, while around a quarter of the city's 2 million residents have an international background. Drawn by work, studies, love, or the pursuit of a better life, they value Vienna’s safety, stability and peacefulness.

Many expats are employed in one of numerous international organisations. Vienna is home to 40 international institutions, including one of the four international United Nations headquarters and home to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The UN alone has 20 international offices and organisations here, in total employing around 5,000 people from over 125 different countries. Of these, over two-thirds are from an international background. It is further the seat of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European Fundamental Rights Agency (EFRA) and the Organization of the Petrol Exporting Countries (OPEC). The city’s diplomatic significance is further highlighted by the 15,000 diplomats who reside here.

Given the attractive lifestyle Vienna offers, it’s no surprise that many expats choose to move or start their own families here. Parents can choose from 14 outstanding private international schools, which give pupils a well-rounded education. Many offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme or schooling in French, Japanese and Swedish. The American International School also allows students to graduate with a US high school diploma. Local public schools have bilingual (English/German) tracks for international families. 

It goes without saying that setting up a business or relocating to a foreign country is no walk in the park. That’s why businesses and individuals alike deserve impartial, comprehensive support and advice to help them hit the ground running. 

The Vienna Business Agency offers extensive assistance on a multitude of topics. 

For internationals, these include cost-free, personalized consultations for companies considering a move, for foreign talents who need assistance navigating the immigration bureaucracy, and for expats living in the city who may need advice on settling in. 

On a national level, the Austrian Business Agency’s Work in Austria programme offers particular support for international talents, including consultations, information resources a growing job platform. 

All immigrants to Vienna can benefit from the City of Vienna’s multilingual StartWien programme, which provides information and “StartCoaching” for new arrivals on everything from education, health and housing to German courses. 

Get in touch with us now for a friendly, cost-free consultation to discuss your needs.