City in the interior of SP is the best in the country to live in, says ranking; see list

The city of Gavião Peixotoin the interior of São Paulo, obtained the first place no Brazil’s quality of life rankingaccording to data from the Social Progress Index (IPS Brasil 2026) released this Wednesday (20). Among the capitals, Curitiba (PR) occupies the top of the list. The report, which evaluates the social and environmental performance of 5,570 municipalities, presents a national average of 63.40 points on a scale of 0 to 100.

Gavião Peixoto achieved the score of 73,10being followed in the general ranking by Jundiaí (SP) and Osvaldo Cruz (SP). See the first 10 cities:

1. Gavião Peixoto (SP) — 73.10
2. Jundiaí (SP) — 71.80
3. Osvaldo Cruz (SP) — 71.76
4. Pompéia (SP) — 71.76
5. Curitiba (PR) — 71.29
6. Nova Lima (MG) — 71.22
7. Gabriel Monteiro (SP) — 71.16
8. Cornelio Procópio (PR) — 71.16
9. Luzerne (SC) — 71.10
10. Itupeva (SP) — 71.08

It is important to emphasize that IPS Brasil considers the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha (PE) as a municipality in the ranking, as it gathers the necessary data to calculate the index.

Capitals

In the group of capitals, after Curitiba (71.29 points), there are Brasilia (DF), São Paulo (SP), Campo Grande (MS) e Belo Horizonte (MG). See the 10 capitals with the best quality of life:

1. Curitiba (PR) – 71.29
2. Brasília (DF) – 70.73
3. São Paulo (SP) – 70.64
4. Campo Grande (MS) – 69.77
5. Belo Horizonte (MG) – 69.66
6. Goiânia (GO) – 69.47
7. Palmas (TO) – 68.91
8. Florianópolis (SC) – 68.73
9. João Pessoa (PB) – 67.73
10. Cuiabá (MT) – 67.22

At the other end of the list, the municipality of Williamson (RR) registered the lower performance of the country, with 42,44 points.

Methodology

Unlike indicators that focus only on economic data, IPS Brasil measures final results divided into three main categories: Basic Human Needs, Fundamentals of Wellbeing e Opportunities. For the calculation of 2026, we used 57 indicators from public sourceslike the DataSUS, IBGE, Inep e MapBiomas.

Among the components evaluated, Brazil presented its best average performance em “Housing” (87,95) e “Access to Information and Communication” (79,81). On the other hand, the lower rates were registered in “Individual Rights” (39,14) e “Access to Higher Education” (45,97).

Regional performance

The survey shows that the regions On the e Southeast the municipalities with the best scores are concentrated. In contrast, the states that make up the Legal Amazon – Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, Tocantins and Maranhão – presented results below the national average in almost all components evaluated. The report highlights that the low performance in this region is mainly influenced by concentration of greenhouse gas emissions and by accumulated deforestationwhich impact the Environmental Quality component.

The analysis also reinforces that economic development, alone, does not explain social progress. According to the document, municipalities with similar levels of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita present different social results, which indicates that public management and investments directed to social and environmental areas are decisive for the local quality of life.