Paris vs London: which city comes out on top?
Our front page story yesterday on Paris surging ahead of London in the rankings of tech sector hotspots got people talking, reigniting an ancient debate over the relationship – and rivalry – that exists between these two mighty capitals.
Credit where it’s due; Paris has patiently built a deep and high-value tech sector. But it’s worth looking into the details of the 2025 Tech Ecosystem Index. Yes, Paris ranked above London – for the first time – in the overall rankings of “the biggest and most successful tech ecosystems globally.” The American West Coast Bay Area topped the charts, followed by New York, Boston and then the French capital. Next came Austin, then plucky London.
The report authors zeroed in on the growth in enterprise value in the Parisian tech sector which was indeed healthier than in the UK’s capital. However, London left Paris in the dust on combined value (by more than $300bn) and total VC investments in 2024 ($11bn to $6bn) and we host around twice the number of VC-backed tech startups than the French capital.
In other words, we can afford to raise a glass to the French without being overly concerned about our own status. The French tech sector is booming – especially in AI – and hats (or berets) off to them for inching out a win in the overall rankings. They’re clearly doing something right.
Helpfully, we can broaden out the debate following the publication yesterday of the 2025 Global Cities Index by Oxford Economics. This fascinating annual report looks at the trends shaping cities around the world, and also ranks them according to a broad range of metrics.
London scored highly for its economy, culture and internationalism, and comes second to New York overall, with Paris in third (honour restored) but look at the detail; Paris ranks 7th for Quality of Life while London comes in at a miserable 144th – largely due to our absurd housing crisis. The report notes that “London residents spend more of their income on housing than the residents of nearly every other city in the world.”
On the upside, those that can afford to live in London contribute to our number one top spot ranking for Human Capital. The report states with confidence that London “is set to remain a top Global City for years to come” but without radical action on housing and affordability, it will be an increasingly unequal one.