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Old 30 November 2011, 06:03 AM   #1
KirkWilfred
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Icon20 Top 10 in Mercer Quality of Living survey

Top 10 in Mercer Quality of Living survey

1 Vienna Austria

2 Zurich Switzerland

3 Auckland New Zealand

4 Munich Germany

5 Duesseldorf Germany

5 Vancouver Canada

7 Frankfurt Germany

8 Geneva Switzerland

9 Bern Switzerland

10 Copenhagen Denmark

http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#city-rankings
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Old 30 November 2011, 06:04 AM   #2
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Wow, surprised there's no US cities on there.
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Old 30 November 2011, 06:09 AM   #3
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Interesting list but honestly I cannot see how there is not a US City until No. 29 and then they consider Honolulu as the top city. I cannot see how Honolulu is the top US city. San Francisco is definitely a great city but there are plenty of US cities that should have been well ahead of Honolulu.
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Old 30 November 2011, 06:15 AM   #4
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Interesting list but honestly I cannot see how there is not a US City until No. 29 and then they consider Honolulu as the top city. I cannot see how Honolulu is the top US city. San Francisco is definitely a great city but there are plenty of US cities that should have been well ahead of Honolulu.
Well I feel that the surveys are a bit biased per city. I mean, Honolulu is a tropical climate so I can see why everyone "loves" it there and puts down that their quality of life is more than superb!
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Old 30 November 2011, 09:17 AM   #5
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Interesting list but honestly I cannot see how there is not a US City until No. 29 and then they consider Honolulu as the top city. I cannot see how Honolulu is the top US city. San Francisco is definitely a great city but there are plenty of US cities that should have been well ahead of Honolulu.
It is all in what the factors are in determining "best."

US cities have crumbling infrastructure, bad access to healthcare, and high crime rates. These factors kept US cities out of the top ten. Oslo dropped from top 5 to 24th because of the massacre there last year.
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Old 30 November 2011, 06:10 AM   #6
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Gary

I agree with you. I tend to think these surveys are incomplete but are interesting to read.
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Old 30 November 2011, 06:30 AM   #7
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I guess I'm gonna have to move to Europe
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Old 30 November 2011, 06:35 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by KirkWilfred View Post
Top 10 in Mercer Quality of Living survey

1 Vienna Austria

2 Zurich Switzerland

3 Auckland New Zealand

4 Munich Germany

5 Duesseldorf Germany

5 Vancouver Canada

7 Frankfurt Germany

8 Geneva Switzerland

9 Bern Switzerland

10 Copenhagen Denmark

http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#city-rankings
Survey with wrong sampling

No Australian cities

Thousands of Kiwi's migrate to Australia each month many from Auckland for one simple reason.... Better quality of life in Australia...

very few migrate from Australian cities to Auckland

Huh
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Old 30 November 2011, 11:40 AM   #9
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I think they meant "Hanalei" instead of "Honolulu"........I'd rather live in Hanalei!
p.s. I am a former Austrian, now a US citizen fortunate to live in the San Francisco area.....I gotta say I like it here mo bettah than Vienna.......which is BLOODY cold
but I do miss the Sachertorte.
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Old 5 December 2011, 09:04 AM   #10
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I think they meant "Hanalei" instead of "Honolulu"........I'd rather live in Hanalei!
p.s. I am a former Austrian, now a US citizen fortunate to live in the San Francisco area.....I gotta say I like it here mo bettah than Vienna.......which is BLOODY cold
but I do miss the Sachertorte.
Amen to Hamalei. I saw "The Desdendants" last week and am already dreaming of the next trip.
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Old 5 December 2011, 12:04 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by blackmsport View Post
Survey with wrong sampling

No Australian cities

Thousands of Kiwi's migrate to Australia each month many from Auckland for one simple reason.... Better quality of life in Australia...

very few migrate from Australian cities to Auckland

Huh
Yup definitely fishy having Auckland 3rd and no Australian cities in the top 10.
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Old 30 November 2011, 07:30 AM   #12
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These kinds of reports are so subjective! Bleah. I wouldn't want to live in Honolulu anyway - too crowded and way too expensive!
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Old 30 November 2011, 09:18 AM   #13
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Every time I see these surveys I am reminded at how differently we in the US view what makes a livable city.

I remember friends from the states bitching about how there was no freeway access to downtown Vancouver and how everyone lived in much higher density housing; however, my Vancouver friends felt that this was part of why they liked the city so much.

Seems like us yanks seem to value: job opportunity, large & cheap housing, low taxes & private health care.

Europeans seem to value: stable social welfare/protection systems, denser & walkable urban environments, cultural offerings.

All my family still in Houston say they hate the city but won't move - even when the opportunity presents itself. I don't get it.
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Old 30 November 2011, 09:29 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JasoninDenver View Post
Every time I see these surveys I am reminded at how differently we in the US view what makes a livable city.

I remember friends from the states bitching about how there was no freeway access to downtown Vancouver and how everyone lived in much higher density housing; however, my Vancouver friends felt that this was part of why they liked the city so much.

Seems like us yanks seem to value: job opportunity, large & cheap housing, low taxes & private health care.

Europeans seem to value: stable social welfare/protection systems, denser & walkable urban environments, cultural offerings.

All my family still in Houston say they hate the city but won't move - even when the opportunity presents itself. I don't get it.
Well said!
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Old 30 November 2011, 09:45 AM   #15
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Originally Posted by JasoninDenver View Post
Every time I see these surveys I am reminded at how differently we in the US view what makes a livable city.

I remember friends from the states bitching about how there was no freeway access to downtown Vancouver and how everyone lived in much higher density housing; however, my Vancouver friends felt that this was part of why they liked the city so much.

Seems like us yanks seem to value: job opportunity, large & cheap housing, low taxes & private health care.

Europeans seem to value: stable social welfare/protection systems, denser & walkable urban environments, cultural offerings.

All my family still in Houston say they hate the city but won't move - even when the opportunity presents itself. I don't get it.
Very well said - the key is to know what you want and what you can gain from, and offer to, the place where you live. City surveys seem to be predicated on the assumption that you have endless supplies of money too. I like my cities to be a little bit rough around the edges....
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Old 5 December 2011, 01:42 AM   #16
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These surveys are way too subjective to take seriously.
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Old 30 November 2011, 11:08 AM   #17
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these reports may be funded by real estate developers
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Old 30 November 2011, 11:23 AM   #18
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Interesting, it's a very different list than one that was posted on here a few months back - that one had several cities in Australia. The only city in common that I recall on the two lists is Vancouver.

This one has lots of cities with high quality of life but also high cost of living, e.g. Zurich.
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Old 30 November 2011, 01:12 PM   #19
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dont like the pollution in SF ( you can smell it if you are downtown from the cars ) and the bums and piss near the streets. but yes its nice.


how big does the city have to be?
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Old 30 November 2011, 01:16 PM   #20
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Glad to be living in the SF Bay Area also!
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Old 30 November 2011, 03:04 PM   #21
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My favorites in order:

Sydney
London
Singapore
San Francisco
Berlin
Los Angeles
NYC

I like it a lot more diverse.
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Old 30 November 2011, 03:15 PM   #22
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I went to Vancouver a couple of weeks ago, first time visit. How did it rank #5? Very poor highway/freeway infrastructure, yes, construction was going on, but still. Also those ridiculously slow speed limits! Ouch! Fortunately no tickets...
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Old 4 December 2011, 11:02 PM   #23
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Pittsburgh 49th? Hundreds of thousands of people have fled in the last few decades.
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Old 5 December 2011, 01:13 AM   #24
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Not surprised about Munich and Vancouver. Vienna is fine as long as your are at least 85 years old imho. Dull,boring,tedious and pompous city for me. But absolutely clean and safe.
It breaks my heart not to see any USA city but truth is most of the best USA cities in the last 10/15 years have gone down the drain in everything,especially safety.
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Old 6 December 2011, 08:35 AM   #25
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It breaks my heart not to see any USA city but truth is most of the best USA cities in the last 10/15 years have gone down the drain in everything,especially safety.
Quite the contrary, US cities are much safer now than they were 10 or 15 years ago. All types of crimes are at their lowest since the 1960s, I guess we survived that crack epidemic afterall. That being said, the crime rates are significantly higher than other industrialized cities, and this survey made it clear that personal safety was one of their most important factors.
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Old 5 December 2011, 02:44 AM   #26
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I'm surprised Helsinki wasn't higher than 35th!

Oh well... I don't think these surveys are all that accurate.
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Old 5 December 2011, 03:33 AM   #27
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Ottawa, Canada, where I live is #14. Think we were #12 last year.

#17 in personal safety although I think Ottawa is safer in general than Montreal, Vancouver or especially Toronto.

The list isn't that far from the truth. I'm sure if we follow it for several years the same cities will pop up in approximately the same ranking give or take some fluctuation.
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