The best cities to live in Poland. In the second part of the ranking, we reveal the most important numbers

Ranking of the best cities. We compare unemployment

Poznań, similarly to the ranking from half a year ago, boasts the lowest percentage of unemployed people. However, this increased from 1.2 to 1.4 percent. This is not an isolated case among the analyzed cities.

See also: The unemployment rate skyrocketed. What's happening on the labor market?

The greatest deterioration in the situation on the labor market occurred in Gorzów Wielkopolski (in half a year the unemployment rate increased from 3.1 to 4 percent), as well as in Kielce and Olsztyn (an increase of 0.6 percentage points each)..

This is an exception among the analyzed cities Bydgoszcz. There, since the last edition of the city ranking, unemployment has dropped – from 2.7 to 2.5 percent.

Białystok is once again the worst performer, with unemployment rising to 5.7%. The 5 percent limit. they also exceed the indicators in Kielce and Łódź.

Ranking of the best cities. We compare salaries

Out of 16 voivodeship cities, in seven the average earnings are higher than national averagei.e. PLN 9,583.31 gross (in December 2025). Rzeszów, one of the two leaders in the ranking, is the first city where people pay over PLN 9,000. zloty.

The limit of 10 thousand PLN exceed Szczecin and Wrocław. Poznań is slightly higher, and Katowice is closer to 11,000. zloty. These the top three cities with the highest wages, i.e. in order from the lowest: Gdańsk, Warsaw and Kraków, have two 1's in front.

Interestingly, the number of cities with five-digit average salaries has increased from four to seven.

Although the national average is already around 9.5 thousand. PLN gross, in two cities it still does not exceed 8 thousand. zloty. The table is closed by Gorzów Wielkopolski and Białystok.

Ranking of the best cities. We compare apartment prices

The order of cities in the ranking changes completely if we compare earnings with real estate prices, which in practice shows the availability of apartments for local communities. In some cities, apartments have become cheaper within half a year. Adding to this the still quite rapid increase in wages, it turns out that in many places you can buy a slightly larger part of the apartment for an average salary.

The best price-to-income ratio is still in Katowicebut it is no longer the only city where the salary exceeds the rate per 1 sq m. This is also the case in: Łódź, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Bydgoszcz and Szczecin. The differences in proportions there are minimal.

See also: Are you planning to buy an apartment? What's happening now may change your plans

The bigger the city, the worse it is to buy your own apartment. Traditionally the ratio of apartment prices to salaries in Warsaw is the worst. So what if the average salary there is almost PLN 11,500? PLN gross, and at the same time a square meter of an apartment costs PLN 17.5 thousand. zloty. It turns out that a typical resident of the capital earns 0.66 square meters per month.

The conversion rate is not much better in Kraków and Gdańsk (0.72 sq m). Many people cannot afford a flat in Wrocław (0.75).

Ranking of the best cities. Queues for doctors on the National Health Fund

For many years, health care has been one of the biggest problems in Poland. Getting to specialists under the National Health Fund usually requires a lot of patience, but in this respect the situation varies depending on where you live. In our comparison, we compared National Health Fund data on the average waiting time (in days) for access to doctors of 10 popular specializations (allergist, dermatologist, gastroenterologist, gynecologist, cardiologist, laryngologist, neurologist, ophthalmologist and urologist).

It turns out that according to statistics from February 2026. Lublin has the shortest average waiting time to all indicated specialists in all National Health Fund facilities in a given city. They last 74 days — this is the only example where the result is in double digits. Łódź, second in this respect, makes its residents wait for an appointment for about 108 days, i.e. over three months. It is similar in Rzeszów.

See also: The National Health Fund must explain itself. He didn't pay that much for benefits in 2025.

The inhabitants of Olsztyn must show the greatest patience. There, the average waiting time is as much as 242 days, or about eight months. The statistics of the capital of Warmia and Mazury are exaggerated by the very long waiting time for an appointment with a gastroenterologist (over 550 days on average) and an ophthalmologist (450 days).

Next to Olsztyn, the cities with the longest queues to doctors include: Kraków, Bydgoszcz and Gdańsk. All three have results exceeding 200 days.

City ranking. We compare the number of crimes

Another non-financial indicator that is important in the context of assessing the quality of life in a given city is crime. For this purpose, we compared the data published by the Central Statistical Office, which summarizes the first nine months of 2025 (the latest available statistics) in terms of detected crimes in relation to the number of inhabitants.

It's not surprising that the nominal number of crimes is the highest in Warsaw (almost 38,000) due to the size of the city. Calculated per thousand inhabitants, the indicator for the capital is 20.3. Here the comparison is better, but Warsaw is still among the five most dangerous cities. Wrocław has a slightly worse result, followed by Gorzów Wielkopolski, Katowice and Szczecin.

See also: Tougher penalties for crimes and misdemeanors. New regulations in the Sejm

Szczecin's result is shocking. It is more than eight times worse than in Rzeszów, where in the first nine months of 2025, just over 9 crimes per 1,000 were found. inhabitants. It is the safest city in our ranking. Next with low double-digit values ​​are: Białystok, Lublin and Olsztyn.

City ranking. We compare air quality

The increasing ecological and health awareness of Poles means that we pay more attention to the quality of the air we breathe every day. So we checked the average levels at Business Insider suspended dust PM10, which it calculates Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection (GIEP).

PM10 suspended dust is harmful due to the content of carcinogenic heavy metals. It has a negative effect on the respiratory system. It is responsible for coughing attacks, wheezing, deterioration of the condition of people with asthma and acute, violent bronchitis.

See also: Is smog poisoning Poles? See the latest statistics for 16 cities and 10 years [TABELE]

The standard average daily concentration according to WHO is 50 micrograms per cubic meter. During the 12-month period under review (from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025), averaging the results from all days, no city has come close to this result. This shows that after the periods of the highest pollution (autumn/winter), the situation in cities is quite good.

Katowice had the worst air with average values ​​exceeding half of the norm indicated above. The result is 27.8 micrograms, which is 2 micrograms higher than in the previous edition of the city ranking. The capital of Silesia has overtaken Wrocław in terms of worse air quality, and Kraków is still on the inglorious podium.

They create a counterweight to the most polluted air in the south of the country northern cities that boast the best air quality. Olsztyn is the clear leader (16 micrograms), which overtook the previous leader, Gdańsk. The following countries remained below the 20 microgram limit: Gorzów Wielkopolski, Szczecin and Białystok.

When is the next edition of the city ranking?

This is the second and last part of the city ranking, which described the situation at the end of 2025. The next installment will be released in about half a year. Then we will present how the condition has changed in 16 leading cities in Poland after the first half of 2026.

Author: Damian Słomski, journalist of Business Insider Polska