The quality of life (QoL) in cities has increasingly been used as a symbol of urban success. Studies addressing this issue tend to focus, however, on large cities and/or on cities from different countries. By using a set of data from a single country, comprehending cities with different population sizes and densities, observations for 11 performance dimensions, and an approach combining the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique and multivariate regression modeling, this study analyses the QoL of Portuguese cities and explores some of its determinants. The results of this analysis show that both small and large cities can offer high levels of QoL with “transport and accessibility,” “safety,” “housing,” “education,” and “culture and entertainment” being the dimensions that most contribute to the QoL assessment. While Lisbon and Oporto (the two largest Portuguese cities) are benchmark cities, some of the highly populated cities located in their Metropolitan Areas present the most potential for improvement in terms of QoL. The results also show that cities located in the hinterland tend to present higher QoL scores than those on the coast. Equally, cities with lower population size and density, those that are district capitals and those with higher per capita current public expenditures present higher levels of QoL. These findings suggest, therefore, that the cities’ typology, their population size and density, and their dependence from local governments’ public expenditures can significantly contribute to the differences identified in their QoL performance.

城市的生活质量（QoL）已越来越多地被用作城市成功的象征。然而，针对这个问题的研究倾向于集中在大城市和/或来自不同国家的城市。通过使用一组来自单个国家的数据，理解具有不同人口规模和密度的城市，观察11个绩效维度以及结合数据包络分析（DEA）技术和多元回归建模的方法，本研究分析了葡萄牙语的QoL城市并探索其一些决定因素。分析结果表明，无论大小城市，都可以通过“交通和可达性”，“安全”，“住房”，“教育”和“文化和娱乐”来提供高水平的生活质量，这是最大的贡献QoL评估。虽然里斯本和波尔图（葡萄牙最大的两个城市）是基准城市，但位于大都市区的一些人口稠密的城市在生活质量方面的改善潜力最大。结果还表明，内陆城市的QoL得分往往高于沿海城市。同样，人口规模和密度较低的城市，地区首都和人均当前公共支出较高的城市，其生活质量水平较高。因此，这些发现表明，城市的类型，人口规模和密度以及它们对地方政府公共支出的依赖性可以极大地影响其QoL表现中的差异。就其生活质量而言，位于大都市区的一些人口稠密的城市表现出最大的改善潜力。结果还表明，内陆城市的QoL得分往往高于沿海城市。同样，人口规模和密度较低的城市，地区首都和人均当前公共支出较高的城市，其生活质量水平较高。因此，这些发现表明，城市的类型，人口规模和密度以及它们对地方政府公共支出的依赖性可以极大地影响其QoL表现中的差异。就其生活质量而言，位于大都市区的一些人口稠密的城市表现出最大的改善潜力。结果还表明，内陆城市的QoL得分往往高于沿海城市。同样，人口规模和密度较低的城市，地区首都和人均当前公共支出较高的城市，其生活质量水平较高。因此，这些发现表明，城市的类型，人口规模和密度以及它们对地方政府公共支出的依赖性可以极大地影响其QoL表现中的差异。结果还表明，内陆城市的QoL得分往往高于沿海城市。同样，人口规模和密度较低的城市，地区首都和人均当前公共支出较高的城市，其生活质量水平较高。因此，这些发现表明，城市的类型，人口规模和密度以及它们对地方政府公共支出的依赖性可以极大地影响其QoL表现中的差异。结果还表明，内陆城市的QoL得分往往高于沿海城市。同样，人口规模和密度较低的城市，地区首都和人均当前公共支出较高的城市，其生活质量水平较高。因此，这些发现表明，城市的类型，人口规模和密度以及它们对地方政府公共支出的依赖性可以极大地影响其QoL表现中的差异。