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Top 20 Third Culture Kid Cities in The World

TCKID has released its first annual list of the top 10 cities in the world in which TCKs live, ranking them by popularity based on its membership of 21,458 Cross Cultural people. (This is not a poll or a survey. It’s the location of our members based on their I.P addresses as given to us by Facebook.)

The table below lists the largest 20 cities in the world based on population for the year of 2009 of people who identity themselves as “Cross Cultural” and/or “Third Culture”.
tckid-cities

The most popular city is New York!

Top 10 Cities

1. New York 474
2. Bangkok 381
3. Singapore 306
4. Hong Kong 290
5. Washington 279
6. London 274
7. Sydney 259
8. Los Angeles 222
9. Makati 213
10. Jakarta 210

Other Cities

Toronto 210
Seoul 204
Dubai 202
Chicago 197
Kuala Lumpur 177
Seattle 166
Melbourne 163
Atlanta 157
Houston 157
Oslo 148

Learn more the TCKID New York City group.

Join a local TCKID group (over 50 cities)

Top Countries

United States 8,549
United Kingdom 1,829
Canada 1,003
Australia 841
China 453
Thailand 387
Germany 348
France 342
Netherlands 313
Japan 311
Philippines 308
Hong Kong 302
Singapore 299
Indonesia 274
India 259
South Korea 221
Norway 218
Malaysia 215
United Arab Emirates 206
Switzerland 202

Where to meet TCKs?
third culture kids
Want to meet TCKs in your area? Join a local group and meet other TCKs from 50 locations.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Posted by tckid at 2:43 pm on May 18th, 2009. Comments
Categories: Articles, Feature, General Forum, Meetup, News, Research.

  • ceberus
    I, too, am surprised to see Asian cities are popular on the list. Singapore and Hong Kong are no surprises to me, but Jakarta. Wow (no offense intended).

    Just my 2 cents on "Asian friendliness to expats" - yes, many Asians are very friendly and nice. However, if you actually look like one of them, and even work for one of their groups, usually they will force you to break in and be one of them. This tendency exists all over the human world but I think Asia tends to have this to a stronger degree.
  • johanna0507
    Many people wondered about the high numbers of Souh East Asia based TCKs:

    There is a circuit of British and other European ppl moving between places like Singapore and Hong Kong for mainly corporate jobs. Such people might also be found in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and a few more places in that region.

    There is an "addictive" quality to those places, particularly Thailand and Malaysia. I imagine many TCKs might even want to return as adults, even if they have no connection.

    The propartion of expats to regular inhabitants in Singapore is REALLY high (forgotten exact) and the Singaporeans themselves move abroad quite a bit too.
  • johanna0507
    What are all the TCKs doing in Bangkok? Did the main Int'l school sign up in force, or is it adult TCKs that can't resist the charms of Bangkok?

    Larisa, I have never even visited San Francisco but I can think of 3 dear TCK friends of mine who live there! Not sure if they are members of the site though.. Seek and ye shall find!

    All Europeans "in the know" say that San Francisco is the nicest city in the US... Can't wait to find out someday soon if they are right!
  • Larisa
    No wonder I've had such a difficult time finding tck's around here! I sure hope some of you will consider moving to the San Francisco Bay Area. (Don't leave me here alone!!)
  • How was this done? :

    Facebook & our newsletter list ranked our membership based on popularity.

    Which survey methodology used?

    This is not a survey. It's the location of members based on their I.P addresses as given to us by Facebook.

    Sample size?
    21,458 Cross Cultural people.


    I hope that answers your questions! Let me know if you have any further questions.
  • How was this done? Which survey methodology used? Sample size? Somehow I am doubting the accuracy so the social science major in me would like to know.

    Thanks!
  • Clarita
    The poll is skewed because it depends on regular internet access. For example, in actual TCK population, Nairobi would be way up on the list. There's no African or Latin American cities on the list. This is something to note because as culturally-aware people it's important to keep in mind our friends in the 'developing' world as well as in the 'developed' world.
  • LOL! I was looking at the cities and I've either lived or visited 8/10.

    I definitely need to get myself to London or Europe for that matter.
  • Shoaib
    I've lived in almost half the cities in the top ten list lol...I need to pick one and stay put!
  • Jakarta is up there?? Wow, this never occured to me, haha.
    And go KL! :)
  • I heart NYC b/c I've felt that this city has made me feel I belonged here and not anywhere else.

    I'm starting to work on a multi-disciplinary TCK arts show involving dance, film, spoken word, visual arts, photography, music. If you're a creative TCK and would like to get involved somehow please contact me. alaine83 at gmail.
    I'm also looking for other NYC TCKs to interview for the project.
  • Cynthia
    I think Asia is huge because for one it is appealing to those business brat families as well as missionary families and military families as well. In general it is also pretty expat friendly.

    The US is huge for TCKs because it is cheaper compared to Europe for education and possibly standard of living but not necessarily TCK-friendly :p

    Although I have never been to Europe but my assumption is why the countries of the continent aren't on the list because the percentage is smaller compared to those of other countries?

    Bangkok and Singapore definitely is one HUGE TCK community - everyone there has at some point lived in another country or been to a local international school during their developmental years that gives them that TCK characteristic (and in my experience this is different from attending international schools in Taiwan).

    Although I'm surprised to see New York up there. Hmm, I really should make a trip more often to NYC huh since I live 2 hours away LOL
  • Uncle Dan
    Jakarta is up there? Honestly that wouldn't have occurred to me. I mean, I loved it, but still.

    And yes, Asia IS popular. I'm surprised more European cities aren't there. Places like Luxembourg, Geneva or Brussels are practically TCK havens.

    I'm also surprised about the US being a *popular* spot. The fact that many TCKs live there is no surprise, but that they like to is another. The impression I get from most American TCKs is that they want to get out as soon as possible, or feel trapped at not being able to.
  • Em
    wooo for Hong Kong!
  • danau
    I wonder why Asia is so popular.

    I think we should also do one that only includes Adult TCKs who have finished their (undergraduate) studies. This way we can actually see where they choose to live. Then we can see which cities are considered most livable for TCKs. (Since if they're under 18 they live in a place usually because of they're parents job, and even when they're in college, usually factors relating to quality of education rather than livability of the city determines where the go.) Just an idea.
  • Daniela
    The poll is based on the website member percentages, not actual world population.

    Great point though, we will have to distribute our resources to those areas to help the dense TCK population.

    Thank you :)
  • Ellen Streefland
    Then how about Brussels and Geneva. These are two cities that are primary cities for NGOs, banking and governmental seats. By rights these are filled with TCKs, although being European cities perhaps aren't quite seen like that.

    I suspect that the polls is somewheat flawed...
  • MochiGreen
    Woo-hoo for Seoul!!
  • Andja
    ...how about Amsterdam..??
    :))
  • wow. didn't know that Bangkok was way up there.
  • Doci
    Oh, wow, I live in the city with the most TCKIDs? That's surprising, considering that I haven't really met any. =P
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