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We just don't really do cities that well as far as a stress-free quality lifestyle. I think a lot of it was that it just seems so much easier to move around in Europe in a calm manner. Things in their cities are close by, you can walk places, you're not stuck in traffic and trying to find parking. I love the USA, but very very few of our cities compare to theirs.
I have been to nearly 40 countries on 5 continents plus I worked for an EU-based company for over 25 years, giving me insight into the daily lives of "average" Europeans. The EU cities rank quite high on both lists. I would say these rankings make sense. As for QOL, Europe has much less disparity between its richest and poorest citizens. While I don't see as much suburban opulence in the EU, I also don't see the dire urban and rural poverty that exists here. This balancing out of extremes likely contributes to the higher rankings for EU cities. Of a lesser but still interesting note, another observation that always stuck out for me was almost everyone in the EU starts their employment with 4 weeks of vacation, which they take ($34.3 billion in vacation days to go unused this year - Nov. 30, 2011). Based on my value system, that is clearly a QOL plus!
I also typically feel a much greater sense of safety in the EU cities I've spent time in than I do in most US cities. Part of this has to do with my experience that most EU cities (even small ones) are vibrant with people out and about at all hours as contrasted with our mostly dormant downtowns and drive up strip malls and ATMs. Given the reported crime rates of most EU cities are nearly always much lower than those of cities here, this list carries weight with me. These lower crime rates may partially have to do with the fact that very few people own guns in the EU countries.
To the OP: Is there something that would lead you to believe the US cities should rank higher on these two surveys? Have you traveled outside the US? Where? What have these travels revealed?
I'm European and think parking is way easier in the US generally than in Europe. Walking around safe and relax is possible in many EU cities but not everywhere and you never do that at night in the capital cities. Dangerous.
Public transport is better in Europe, yes.
I was in Austria for 11 years among other countries I resided and even there I knew people who did not even own a car and had 1000 EUR a month to feed a family. On the other hand you had rich people and the wonderful tourist spots.
Crime exists everywhere in Europe as well and the bad guys always have guns, sadly.
More vacations and cheaper healthcare are a plus of course.
I'm European and think parking is way easier in the US generally than in Europe. Walking around safe and relax is possible in many EU cities but not everywhere and you never do that at night in the capital cities. Dangerous.
Public transport is better in Europe, yes.
For me, one of the beauties of the EU cities (and actually my current US city) is that I rarely have to drive so parking is not an issue. I suppose if these surveys were ranking parking, the US cities might be higher up. Given the criteria they are using, however, they "feel" fairly on target to me.
As for walking around at night, how one experiences their own sense of safety is subjective. Having explored capitals as diverse as London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Lisbon, Ljubljana, Bern, Buenos Aires and Singapore at night, I personally felt more comfortable than I do exploring DC in the evening. Your mileage may of course, vary.
Mercer rankings are Euro-centric and biased in favor of small and mid-sized cities. It's obvious that "quality of living" is pretty subjective.
How is Honolulu the highest ranked U.S. city while New York City is near the bottom of the top 50? How does a small, isolated city like Auckland have the 3rd highest quality of living while a large, well-connected city like London rank at 38?
Mercer rankings are Euro-centric and biased in favor of small and mid-sized cities. It's obvious that "quality of living" is pretty subjective.
How is Honolulu the highest ranked U.S. city while New York City is near the bottom of the top 50? How does a small, isolated city like Auckland have the 3rd highest quality of living while a large, well-connected city like London rank at 38?
These rankings are random and don't mean much.
Actually, Auckland is around the same as Philadelphia in terms of population.
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