Lviv Ranks Second Among Best Ukrainian Cities for Tech

A popular Ukrainian tech media DOU.ua has published the results of a survey of tech professionals regarding Ukrainian cities. The purpose of the survey was to find out where is the best city in Ukraine for tech professionals to live and work.

Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, and Vinnytsia are the top three cities in Ukraine, taking first, second and third places, respectively. Lviv received the highest scores in the following categories (score scale: 1 to 22, where 1 is the best, 22 is the worst) – “Income and career opportunities in IT” (2), “General impressions of the city” (2-3), “Development of the IT community” (2), “Transport connection with other cities” (2), “Comfort of living and quality of the urban environment” (5), “Education” (3), “Healthcare” (4).

Medium-sized cities took the first positions in the ranking, overtaking cities with a population over 1 million. “Such results are quite unexpected for us, as currently, about 85% of tech professionals live in the five largest cities in Ukraine. However, these big cities, as the results show, are not the most convenient. Big cities have such advantages as good development of the tech industry, higher income of tech professionals, many job openings on the market, the big number of tech companies, and specialized events. They also have better educational opportunities and better healthcare. However, medium-sized cities have significantly better performance in other areas. First of all, regarding prices, particularly for real estate, regarding city infrastructure, ecological situation and crime rate,” the study says. 4,000 tech specialists took part in this survey.

What makes Lviv better?

Development of the tech community. Besides answers given by tech professionals, the number of tech events in the city was calculated. With 723 events, Lviv ranks second in this category (after Kyiv). The interviewed tech professionals also indicated that there are opportunities for tech business development (4.1 out of 5) and community development, as well as highlighted the diversity of tech professionals in Lviv (4.3 out of 5).

Income and career opportunities in tech. This category included the number of tech companies and vacancies on the tech job market, median income of tech professionals, and respondent opinions. According to the number of tech vacancies, Lviv ranks third after Kyiv and Kharkiv. The level of tech professionals’ income was rated with a total score of 4.1 out of 5, and the diversity of vacancies was estimated at 4.3.

Transport connection with other cities and countries. Lviv and Kyiv are the cities where tech professionals are the most satisfied with transport connections (4.3 and 4.5 of 5 respectively). The number of flights and quality of train connection was also analyzed in this category.

The general impression of the city. Lviv received a total score of 8.6 out of 10 in this category, which means that tech professionals can recommend their friends to relocate here.

“We see that the tech industry in Ukraine is concentrated in three main cities – Kyiv, Lviv, and Kharkiv. Interestingly, according to statistics, there are more vacancies in Kharkiv than in Lviv, with more tech companies, and tech professionals. But according to the survey, there are more perspectives for the tech industry in Lviv,” the survey says.

Learn more about the survey here.