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Best places to live in Latvia with every factor weighted equally
The ranking at the top of this page starts with all 14 factors at the same weight. On that footing, these 15 of the 42 places score highest; the number beside each is its match score out of 100. Treat the list as a starting point, not a verdict: raise the factors you care about and the order changes. Select a place to open its full breakdown.
- 181Strongest on international community (100), healthcare (100) and rail connections (100). Weakest on housing cost (12). International community: 6.1% of residents are citizens of another country, 1 January 2026 (Latvian average 3.4%).
- 269Strongest on rail connections (100), airport access (100) and restaurants and bars (95). Weakest on housing cost (26). Rail connections: 99 passenger trains a day (main station Dzintari). Riga 24 min.
- 366Strongest on international community (100), restaurants and bars (100) and cultural scene (100). Weakest on international schools (0). International community: 5.8% of residents are citizens of another country, 1 January 2026 (Latvian average 3.4%).
- 465Strongest on international community (100), walkability (100) and childcare coverage (100). Weakest on international schools (0). International community: 6.1% of residents are citizens of another country, 1 January 2026 (Latvian average 3.4%).
- 561Strongest on cultural scene (100), walkability (93) and bike friendliness (82). Weakest on international schools (0). Cultural scene: the average resident has 11.7 museums, theatres, cinemas and galleries within 3 km.
- 660Strongest on restaurants and bars (100), bike friendliness (92) and walkability (90). Weakest on international schools (0). Restaurants and bars: the average resident has 8 restaurants, cafes and bars within 1 km.
- 758Strongest on rail connections (98), airport access (92) and safety (83). Weakest on public transit (4). Rail connections: 76 passenger trains a day (main station Salaspils). Riga 23 min.
- 854Strongest on access to nature (100), healthcare (100) and safety (94). Weakest on housing cost (0). Access to nature: 40.7% of the land within 1 km of homes is park, forest or open nature. Across the municipality: 72.7%.
- 952Strongest on rail connections (98), childcare coverage (92) and safety (90). Weakest on international schools (0). Rail connections: 90 passenger trains a day (main station Ogre). Riga 27 min.
- 1052Strongest on airport access (86), safety (84) and access to nature (82). Weakest on international schools (0). Airport access: 1 h 16 min by public transport to Riga Airport.
- 1150Strongest on airport access (97), access to nature (91) and international schools (87). Weakest on healthcare (0). Airport access: 44 min by public transport to Riga Airport.
- 1249Strongest on childcare coverage (92), housing cost (88) and safety (82). Weakest on international schools (0). Childcare coverage: 74.2 children under 5 in pre-school education per 100 children aged 0 to 4, 2025 (Latvian figure 67.5).
- 1349Strongest on healthcare (100), rail connections (100) and airport access (100). Weakest on housing cost (0). Healthcare: 6 hospital sites within 15 km.
- 1448Strongest on walkability (100), childcare coverage (100) and restaurants and bars (89). Weakest on international schools (0). Walkability: the average resident can walk to 2.6 of 4 daily needs.
- 1546Strongest on access to nature (90), childcare coverage (90) and safety (84). Weakest on international schools (0). Access to nature: 34.8% of the land within 1 km of homes is park, forest or open nature. Across the municipality: 62.4%.
Best places in Latvia by priority
Each starting point is a preset in the tool above. It raises the factors named and lowers a few others. The five highest-scoring places under each:
Family raises safety, access to nature and international schools to 5, and healthcare, walkability and childcare coverage to 4.
- Riga, Riga region: 75
- Jūrmala, Riga region: 72
- Ādaži, Riga region: 70
- Ķekava, Riga region: 62
- Mārupe, Riga region: 62
Budget first raises housing cost to 5, and bike friendliness, healthcare, rail connections, public transit and walkability to 4.
- Daugavpils, Latgale: 71
- Riga, Riga region: 69
- Liepāja, Kurzeme: 68
- Ventspils, Kurzeme: 61
- Jelgava, Zemgale: 58
Car-free raises bike friendliness, public transit and walkability to 5, and rail connections to 4.
- Riga, Riga region: 82
- Daugavpils, Latgale: 73
- Liepāja, Kurzeme: 72
- Jelgava, Zemgale: 65
- Jūrmala, Riga region: 65
Frequent flyer raises rail connections and airport access to 5, and international community, restaurants and bars and cultural scene to 4.
- Riga, Riga region: 98
- Jūrmala, Riga region: 78
- Salaspils, Riga region: 72
- Jelgava, Zemgale: 66
- Liepāja, Kurzeme: 62
Questions about where to live in Latvia
What is the best place to live in Latvia?
It depends on what you need from a place, which is why the Latvia City Finder re-ranks as you set your priorities. With all 14 factors weighted equally, Riga, Jūrmala and Liepāja score highest of the 42 places compared. Change the starting point and the answer changes: Family puts Riga first, Budget first puts Daugavpils first, Car-free puts Riga first and Frequent flyer puts Riga first.
What are the best places to live in Latvia for families?
The Family starting point raises safety, access to nature and international schools to 5, and healthcare, walkability and childcare coverage to 4. With it, Riga, Jūrmala, Ādaži, Ķekava and Mārupe score highest.
Which places in Latvia are easiest to live in without a car?
The Car-free starting point raises bike friendliness, public transit and walkability to 5, and rail connections to 4. With it, Riga, Daugavpils, Liepāja, Jelgava and Jūrmala score highest.
Where is housing most affordable in Latvia?
On the housing cost factor, the highest scores go to Rēzekne municipality (around Rēzekne), Krāslava, Ventspils municipality (around Ventspils), Augšdaugava (around Daugavpils) and Ludza. Rēzekne municipality (around Rēzekne): Median price 79 € per m², flats sold in 2025 (Latvian median 863).
Which places in Latvia score highest for safety?
On the safety factor, the highest scores go to Ādaži, Dienvidkurzeme, Talsi, Sigulda and Ogre. Ādaži: 220.9 serious and particularly serious crimes, and 698.7 other recorded crimes, per 100,000 residents a year, 2023 to 2025 (Latvian average 517.9 and 1,446.1). The safety score is built from official crime figures. A low score means more recorded crime than other places on this list, not that a place is unsafe; How the scores work explains the measure.
Where does the data come from?
The Latvia City Finder compares 42 places on 14 factors using official statistics and open data. The figure behind every score is shown beside it, and each source is listed under How the scores work and at the foot of this page. The methodology sets out how every city finder turns figures into scores.
Does the City Finder tell me whether I can move to Latvia?
No. It is an informational research tool that compares places using general statistics. It does not assess eligibility for any visa, residence permit or citizenship, and nothing in it is legal, immigration, tax or financial advice. For visa and residence routes, see Move Me To EU.
About the Latvia City Finder
The Latvia City Finder compares 42 places across Latvia on 14 factors: housing cost, safety, bike friendliness, access to nature, international community, healthcare, rail connections, airport access, public transit, restaurants and bars, cultural scene, walkability, international schools and childcare coverage. Every factor starts at the same weight. Raise the ones you care about, lower or switch off the ones you don't, and the ranking and map re-sort as you go. You can shortlist places, compare them side by side, and copy a link that reopens your exact setup. Riga opens up into its neighborhoods.
It is built for Americans weighing a move to Latvia, whether through citizenship by descent, a visa or another route, who want to turn a long list of places into a shortlist worth visiting. Riga, Daugavpils and Liepāja are on the list, and so are smaller places that rarely make the usual rankings. Scores are built from official statistics and open data, the figure behind each score is shown next to it, and the sources are listed at the foot of this page. The methodology explains how a figure becomes a score.
For visa and residence routes, see Move Me To EU, Karte Global's visa and relocation practice. Considering more than one country? Browse every city finder, or compare places across the whole EU on one scale in the EU City Finder.
How the scores work
Each figure is turned into a 0 to 100 score. Most factors are scored half by comparison and half on a fixed scale. The comparison half ranks the places against each other: the weakest twentieth score 0 and the strongest twentieth score 100. The fixed half measures each place from zero up to the level of the strongest, so a city is not marked zero merely for coming last on a list of good options. Housing cost and journey times have no natural zero and are scored by comparison only. Public transit is already a percentage of residents and is used as it stands, and cycling is scored on a fixed scale (see the table).
Cities are compared with the other cities on this list. Neighborhoods are compared only with other neighborhoods of Riga, so a neighborhood's score says how it compares within Riga only. A score is a comparison, not a grade, and the figure behind every score is shown next to it.
Your overall match is not a flat average. Weights are squared, so a factor at 5 counts nearly three times as much as one at 3. The result is stretched so that strong matches separate from middling ones. A place that excels on something you rated 4 or 5 earns a small bonus, shown as "strong fit"; one that does badly on it takes a penalty, shown as "weak fit". Where a place has no figure for a factor, that factor is left out of its match and the others carry the weight.
Badges: Measured a published official statistic or survey result. Derived calculated by us from published data. Editorial written or judged by us: only the short notes, which never affect a score. Planned not in the score yet.
Reading the safety score. Latvia publishes recorded crime by municipality split by seriousness, not by type of offence. Serious and particularly serious crimes count twice as much as all other recorded crimes. Half of the score ranks the places on this list against each other; the other half is absolute, on a fixed scale on which the Latvian average scores 76. A low score means "more recorded crime than other Latvian places", not "unsafe". Across Latvia the police recorded 517.9 serious and particularly serious crimes and 1,446.1 other crimes per 100,000 residents a year from 2023 to 2025. Crimes are counted where they happen, so Riga and the other cities, where people from around them work, shop and go out, record more per resident. Neighborhoods are not scored for safety.
Reading the train and airport figures. Train counts and journey times come from the published timetables for one ordinary Tuesday, 24 November 2026. Engineering works, replacement buses and timetable changes move these figures, most of all for smaller stations. Every passenger train is counted. Stations within 2 km of a municipality's boundary count, so a place beside a big station shares its trains. Treat these factors as a snapshot of this season, and check a route you would rely on.
Neighborhood view uses Riga's 58 neighborhoods (apkaimes), with residents and citizenship from the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia and flat prices from the State Land Service. Crime and childcare are not published by neighborhood, so they are not scored for neighborhoods. Municipality and neighborhood boundaries are those mapped in OpenStreetMap.