New York best place to live for men

NEW YORK has beaten Chicago as the world’s best city to live in 2010 if you’re a man, coming up trumps in both professional and personal fields, according to a survey.

The poll, by men’s website Askmen.com, ranked 29 cities across the globe based on how good they are for men to live, work and play, based on data that includes the number of holidays, the ratio of men to women, the weather, the unemployment rate and new restaurant and club openings.

Despite being battered by the global economic crisis, New York took the top spot, with Melbourne, Australia, coming in second. Tokyo was third and Madrid and London rounded off the top five.

“We’re positioning the best cities that you can live in say, for a year, somewhere exotic, with cultural options, and job opportunities as well, and also entertainment as a man, which includes clubs and fresh air options,” James Bassil, the website’s editor-in-chief, said.

Newcomers to this year’s list include Las Vegas, at number 29, which Bassil said was a surprise given the city had been hard hit by 2008’s economic turmoil. Other “surprises” include Bogota, Colombia —“it’s not always been seen as the safest place,” Bassil said — and Shanghai in China, due to host the World Expo this year.

Last year’s top five cities, according to Askmen.com, were: Chicago, Barcelona, San Francisco, London and Sydney.

The website ranks cities on seven factors: weather, cost of living, professional life, dating, night on the town, day on the town, and this year’s newcomer, fresh air factor.

It uses data from the United Nations among others.