Tampere remains Finland's most attractive city – Kuopio is hot on its heels

Reputation and Trust Analytics’ Attraction&Retention survey reveals that Tampere remains Finland’s most attractive city. Kuopio, however, has continued to climb the rankings and has almost caught up with Tampere. Turku saw the biggest rise in reputation in this year’s survey. 

Reputation and Trust Analytics’ Attraction&Retention study measured the regional reputation and appeal of Finland’s largest cities among potential residents, as well as their regional reputation and retention power among current residents.

Tampere has held the top spot as the most attractive city throughout the history of the survey, dating back to 2020, but Kuopio has been closing the gap. This year, Tampere’s regional appeal score is 3.81 and Kuopio’s is 3.76 on a scale of 1 to 5.

“The gap between the regional brands of Tampere and Kuopio has been narrowing steadily. We can no longer speak of Tampere’s dominance; instead, Kuopio has closed in on it,” saysSusanna Saarenpää, an expert at Reputation and Trust Analytics.

In the survey, Kuopio received particularly high ratings in the categories of community and safety. The community dimension reflects the perception that the area is home to friendly people and that residents are thriving. The safety category, on the other hand, indicates how pleasant and safe the area is perceived to be.

“Kuopio’s city center has been designed with pedestrians in mind, which certainly helps reinforce the impression of comfort and safety. It creates a sense of security when there are lots of people walking on the streets. We feel safe when we’re among others,” saysAndrei Sergejeff, Senior Advisor at Reputation and Trust Analytics.

Turku now has the third-highest regional reputation in Finland

The biggest climber in this year’s survey is Turku, which improved its regional reputation score by 0.20 points and moved up to third place. Turku has seen improvements in all areas of regional reputation, with the greatest gainsin servicesandlocation.

“The positive perceptions of the location may be influenced by the tram plans, which are expected to improve the flow of public transportation,” Saarenpää said.

“It is particularly interesting that the Turku region’s appeal among potential residents has grown, while the perceptions and experiences of the city’s residents regarding their hometown have remained at the same level as last year. This is quite unusual: usually, residents’ own views of the city are more positive than external perceptions. Of Finland’s ten largest cities, Lahti is the only one where the regional reputation improved among both potential and current residents,” says Saarenpää.

 

The overheated tourism industry in Lapland is reflected in Rovaniemi's image

Rovaniemi's regional reputation fell by 0.15 points in this year's survey.

The subcategory that has seen the sharpest decline in Rovaniemi’s regional ranking is“cost structure,” which reflects how reasonable respondents find the cost of living in the area. Rovaniemi’s score for cost structure has fallen by as much as 0.48 points since last year.

“Rovaniemi has gone the same way as Barcelona and many other cities popular with tourists. When a city becomes so popular among tourists that it’s overrun with them, this also brings about certain side effects,” notes Sergejeff.

“In the past, tourism was often viewed positively, as travelers provided jobs for locals by spending money on hotel and restaurant services. However, the culture of accommodation has changed: nowadays, professional hosts are snapping up apartments for Airbnb use, and as a result, housing prices are skyrocketing,” Sergejeff analyzes.

 

This is how we conducted the study

The goal of the Attraction&Retention study was to examine the public perception of Finland’s largest cities, as well as their appeal and ability to retain residents.

Data collection for the study measuring the attractiveness and retention power of cities was conducted via an online survey from January 8 to January 25, 2026.

The cities were evaluated using Reputation and Trust Analytics’ Attraction&Retention, in which a city’s regional reputation score is calculated as the average of six different sub-areas. These sub-areas are economic vitality, community, safety, location, services, and cost structure. The study used a five-point rating scale (1–5).

A total of 2,702 respondents participated in the survey. The survey targeted Finns aged 15–65 nationwide (excluding the Åland Islands). The sample was weighted to be representative of the population by gender, age, and region of residence.

The margin of error for the entire dataset is at most approximately 1.89 percentage points in either direction.

 

For more information:

Susanna Saarenpää, Reputation and Trust Analytics, Expert, +358 40 706 6019, susanna.saarenpaa@reptrust.com

Andrei Sergejeff, Reputation and Trust Analytics, Senior Advisor, +358 50 303 0204, andrei.sergejeff@reptrust.com

Illustration:Vicente Serra / City of Kuopio