Toronto ranks as fourth-most economically attractive city in the world

Could it be the Ford factor?

On the face of it, Toronto coming fourth in a ranking of world cities when it comes to economic opportunity and attractiveness sounds like a definite feather in the cap, especially given that the city has made international headlines for all the wrong reasons lately.

Its mayor has turned Toronto into fodder for late-night comedians, as he gives a fresh twist to its old nickname, the Big Smoke. The city has also suffered from Ontario's general economic malaise, not to mention squabbles at the municipal and provincial level over important-yet-costly infrastructure projects such as a new subway extension.

So Torontonians can take solace in the fact that respected consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) put their hometown near the top of its Cities of Opportunity survey, right?

Well, maybe they shouldn't pop the champagne corks just yet, because T.O. seems to be slipping down the list.

London topped the results, followed by New York, then Singapore, while Toronto dropped a spot. The Huffington Post reported last year that Canada's biggest city ranked third.

And in 2012, Toronto was actually in second place, the runner-up behind New York.

And where are Vancouver, Calgary or Montreal, you might ask? The PwC study did not cover them based on a methodology that states that the selected cities must be capital market centres, represent a broad geographic sampling and comprise mature and emerging economies within them. Toronto remains preeminent as Canada's economic hub, whether the rest of the country likes it or not.

[ Related: Toronto ranks surprisingly high on list of U.S. travel destinations ]

PwC scores cities on several criteria: intellectual capital, technology readiness, city gateway, transportation and infrastructure, health, safety and security, sustainability and the natural environment, demographics and livability, economic clout, ease of doing business and cost.

Toronto didn't top any of those categories but scored well enough to finish just 15 points behind third-place Singapore. Nine of the top 10 cities in the survey were in the previous report, though some shuffling took place.

San Francisco placed fifth behind Toronto, both cities "renowned for their quality of life," according to the report. They were followed by Paris, Stockholm, Hong Kong, Sydney (joining the top 10 for the first time) and Chicago. The lowest-ranked city in the survey was Nairobi, Kenya, followed by Jarkata, Indonesia and Mumbai, India.

"Most cities score in the top 10 in the majority of indicators, which proves just how comprehensively they attend to most of the factors that enhance [or diminish] urban life and how they actively sweat the details on virtually every aspect of urban policy and organization," the report says.

[ Related: University of Toronto ranked in the top 20 in the world ]

One revealing finding of the report was that the smaller cities among the survey's ranks did better in the quality-of-life indicators.

"This last fact is critical because it also illustrates the relationship between cities and their people," the report says.

"After a certain level of economic success, a city’s residents demand more from municipal administrations."

Hmm. Has anyone told Toronto city council that lately?

To be fair, Toronto came second to Singapore and tied with London on public transport systems. It also topped the quality-of-living sub-category and tied with Sydney for second place in health, safety and security.

So while you may have a Chris Farley impersonator as mayor, Toronto, when it comes to what matters to the world's economic chin-strokers, you still seem to have what it takes.