For years, Jakarta’s reputation was dominated by two things: traffic and scale. A megacity of 30 million people, endlessly sprawling, perpetually gridlocked. Conversations about the city often began and ended there as if the congestion was the whole story.
But something has been shifting beneath the surface for a while now. New neighborhoods have found their identity. A generation of young Jakartans has started building different cafés, creative studios, community markets, independent restaurants with real vision. The city hasn’t just grown. It’s matured.
And now the world is starting to notice.
In 2025, Time Out officially named Jakarta one of the 50 Best Cities in the World, placing it alongside New York, Tokyo, and Barcelona. It’s the kind of recognition that doesn’t come from a PR campaign or a tourism board. It comes from 20,000 urban dwellers across the globe, asked to rate their cities on everything from food and nightlife to community spirit, walkability, and culture.
Jakarta made the cut. And for anyone who has spent real time here, it wasn’t surprising at all.
Why Is Jakarta Ranked Among the World’s 50 Best Cities in 2025?
The survey highlighted several areas where Jakarta genuinely excels things that long-term residents and expats have quietly known for years.
The food scene is, simply put, remarkable. Not just in the fine dining sense, but in the way that extraordinary meals exist at every price point, on every street corner, at every hour of the day. A bowl of soto Betawi from a roadside stall at 7 a.m.
Omakase in a converted heritage house in Menteng on a Friday night. Both excellent. Both unmistakably Jakarta. The city’s culinary depth is one of its most underrated qualities, and it’s increasingly getting the international attention it deserves.
Then there’s the sense of community. Neighborhoods like Kemang, Cipete, and SCBD have developed a texture that’s genuinely hard to manufacture. Creative spaces have sprung up in converted shophouses. Independent cafés serve as de facto community centers.
Local markets bring together residents who might otherwise never cross paths. Expats who settle in these areas often describe the same experience: they came for a posting, and ended up planting roots.
There’s also the cultural energy of the city itself, a generation of artists, entrepreneurs, and urban thinkers who are actively shaping what Jakarta looks and feels like. Street murals, design studios, music collectives, sustainability movements. Jakarta has always had a hustle. What’s new is the intentionality behind it.
What It Means If You’re Considering a Move
International recognition like this isn’t just flattering. It has real, tangible implications for anyone weighing up a relocation or a property investment.
A higher global profile attracts more foreign investment, international talent, and tourism. That kind of momentum tends to concentrate in specific neighborhoods, driving up both livability and long-term property value. Areas like Sudirman, Menteng, and South Jakarta’s expat corridor are already seeing this play out and the gap between what these areas offer today versus five years ago is significant.
The city’s infrastructure is catching up too. The MRT continues to expand, TransJakarta coverage has improved considerably, and genuinely walkable pockets of the city, once something of a rarity, are becoming more common. Jakarta in 2025 is a meaningfully more livable city than it was at the start of the decade, and the direction of travel is clear.
For families, the international school network is well-established and growing. For professionals and entrepreneurs, the coworking culture and business ecosystem have matured into something genuinely competitive. And for anyone who values a city with real cultural texture, not just convenience and efficiency, Jakarta offers a daily life that more polished cities sometimes can’t match.
Property-wise, the timing is worth paying attention to. Global recognition tends to accelerate demand in key neighborhoods, and while Jakarta still offers significantly more value per square meter than comparable cities in the region, that gap won’t stay wide indefinitely. Getting in while the city is still on the rise rather than after it’s fully arrived is often when the most interesting opportunities exist.
The Thing About Jakarta
It’s not Singapore. It’s not Tokyo. It doesn’t have their infrastructure, their order, or their reputation for effortless ease yet. But Jakarta has something those cities can genuinely struggle to replicate: soul.
There’s a warmth here that goes beyond hospitality. It’s visible in the contrast of a gleaming high-rise standing directly beside a decades-old warung that’s been feeding the same neighborhood for three generations. It’s in the way a business district empties at dusk into a sprawling street food corridor, where office workers and street vendors share the same stretch of pavement. It’s in the city’s stubborn insistence on holding its traditions tightly even as it builds aggressively toward something new.
That tension between old and new, between chaos and creativity, between the city Jakarta is and the city it’s becoming is exactly what makes it compelling. And it’s what keeps people coming back, or simply deciding not to leave.
Time Out’s readers didn’t rank Jakarta because it’s perfect. They ranked it because it’s alive. Because living here feels like being part of something that’s still being written and that’s a rare thing in a world where so many cities feel like they’ve already peaked.
Thinking About Making the Move?
Whether you’re a corporate executive looking for a home base in Southeast Asia, a family weighing up your next chapter somewhere more affordable without sacrificing quality of life, or a digital nomad in search of a city with genuine depth and character, Jakarta in 2025 is worth serious consideration.
The city has earned its place on the global stage. The question now is whether you want to be part of what comes next.
At Noble Asia, we help you find a home that fits where you actually want to live whether that’s a serene family compound in the leafy streets of South Jakarta, a modern serviced apartment close to the business district, or something in between.
Start exploring what Jakarta has to offer. 👉nobleasiaid.com
