Sydney is the best city in the world when judged on measures of "liveability" and natural environment but ranks among the worst on those relating to transport and infrastructure.
Sydney placed ninth overall in a report from global management consultancy PwC, which ranked 30 cities on measures comparing their performance on a wide range of social and economic measures.
But the findings in Cities of Opportunity 2014 suggest that Sydney's global standing is restricted by its performance in transport and infrastructure, measures on which it placed 24th - or very nearly on par with Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.
Sydney's costly public transport (only London ranked worse), its lack of taxis and lack of transit coverage across the whole city dragged its global ranking down.
On the measure of availability and cost of housing and housing and maintenance, however, the city ranked first.
Sydney also figured near the top of the field in measures comparing cities' environments and liveability, such as access to healthcare, crime rates, climate, and pollution.
It ranked the lowest of all cities for its cost of living. But conversely, it ranked towards the top of the "iPhone index", which measures how many working hours' income is needed to buy consumer products.
London was ranked the best city in the world overall, followed by New York and then Singapore.
The report is based on research and information from groups including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, national statistics organisations and commercial data providers.
