The “Best Cities in the World” to Live In: U.S. Shut Out of the Top 10

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Mercer Consulting’s annual roundup of the global cities with the best quality of life is here, and Zurich once again comes out on top. The best place in the U.S.? Honolulu at No. 28 - Ouch, not a very good showing for us yanks ya know. Anyways, consultants rated each city on a variety of factors including the level of traffic congestion, air quality, and personal safety reported by expatriates living in more than 600 cities worldwide.

“U.S. cities such as San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago were all edged out by Geneva, Switzerland, Vancouver, B.C., and Auckland, New Zealand. The highest-scoring U.S. city is Honolulu, which came in at No. 28.”

Well now that we all know that there is zero U.S. cities within the top 27, I bet you just can’t wait to see “the top 10 cities in the world” to live in, and by world I think they meant to say - Europe…

No. 1: Zürich, Switzerland
Mercer score: 108*
2007 rank: No. 1
GDP: $300.9 billion (2007 est.)**
Population: 7,581,520 (total country); 347,517 (total city)
Life expectancy: 80.74 years

No. 2 (tie): Vienna, Austria
Mercer score: 107.9
2007 rank: No. 3
GDP: $319.7 billion (2007 est.)
Population: 8,205,533 (total country); 1,825,287 (total city)

No. 4: Vancouver, Canada
Mercer score: 107.6
2007 rank: No. 3
GDP: $1.274 trillion (2007 est.)
Population: 33,212,696 (total country); 560,000 (total city)
Life expectancy: 81.16 years

No. 2 (tie): Geneva, Switzerland
Mercer score: 107.9
2007 rank: No. 2
GDP: $300.9 billion (2007 est.)
Population: 7,581,520 (total country); 185,000 (total city)

No. 5: Auckland, New Zealand
Mercer score: 107.3
2007 rank: No. 5
GDP: $112.6 billion (2007 est.)
Population: 4,173,460 (total country); 1.18 million (total city)
Life expectancy: 80.24 years

No. 6: Dusseldorf, Germany
Mercer score: 107.2
2007 rank: No. 6
GDP: $2.833 trillion (2007 est.)
Population: 82,369,548 (total country); 581,858 (total city)
Life expectancy: 79.1 years

No. 7 (tie): Munich, Germany
Mercer score: 107
2007 rank: No. 8
GDP: $2.833 trillion (2007 est.)
Population: 82,369,548 (total country); 1,332,650 (total city)
Life expectancy: 79.1 years

No. 7 (tie): Frankfurt, Germany
Mercer score: 107
2007 rank: No. 7
GDP: $2.833 trillion (2007 est.)
Population: 82,369,548 (total country); 3,700,000 (total city)
Life expectancy: 79.1 years

No. 9: Bern, Switzerland
Mercer score: 106.5
2007 rank: No. 9
GDP: $319.7 billion (2007 est.)
Population: 8,205,533 (total country); 122,178 (total city)
Life expectancy: 79.36 years

No. 10: Sydney, Australia
Mercer score: 106.3
2007 rank: No. 9
GDP: $766.8 billion (2007 est.)
Population: 20,600,856 (total country); 4,297,100 (total city)
Life expectancy: 80.73 years

You have got to be fugging kidding me. Maybe it’s my “ignorant American self”talking here, but I find it hard to believe that we do not have one city (Miami, NYC, Boston, Palm Springs, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Denver, Bel Air, LA, Irvine, Newport Beach, Scottsdale, San Francisco etc, etc.) that can manage to beat out Auckland, New Zealand or any of the gaggle of German cities littering the top 10.

On a side note, Zurich, Switzerland (the number 1 city in the world to live in) scored a 108, while Baghdad, Iraq (the worst city in the world to live in) scored a whopping 13.5. Wow, and I thought we had a rough run with the judges here in the states - Baghdad barely broke double digits.

Whatever, I’m out - I am going to spend the rest of the night muttering to myself about losing to Anytown, New Zealand (they managed to carry 2 more spots in the 11-23 range of ‘Best Cities in the World’) and eventually fall asleep watching 700 Club… Peace!

P.S. Where the f*ck is London, France, Barcelona, Venice, and every other world class city in the world? This list blows for sure…

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