Chicago Ranks 4th in United States, 45th in the world for quality of living (Washington: appliances, job transfer)

[Bluefox]

There seems to be so much negativity about Chicago on this forum that is completely contraindicated by these reports which consistently place Chicago high on the list for quality of life. Here's an excerpt of the report:

"Honolulu (31) is the city in the US with the highest quality of living, followed by San Francisco (32) and Boston (37). Chicago and Washington share position 45 and New York - the base city - is in position 49. Newly added cities Philadelphia and Dallas are ranked 55 and 61, respectively."

Mercer evaluates local living conditions in all the 420 cities it surveys worldwide. Living conditions are analysed according to 39 factors, grouped in 10 categories:

1. Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement, etc)

1. Economic environment (currency exchange regulations, banking services, etc)

1. Socio-cultural environment (censorship, limitations on personal freedom, etc)

1. Health and sanitation (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution, etc)

1. Schools and education (standard and availability of international schools, etc)

1. Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transport, traffic congestion, etc)

1. Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure, etc)

1. Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars, etc)

1. Housing (housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services, etc)

1. Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)

The full article is available here: News Release: 2010 Mercer Quality of Living survey

[Avengerfire]

I find this very hard to believe. But then again you have to look at the context in which they made this survey and who it is geared towards.

And yeah for a bunch of people involved with "consulting, outsourcing and investment services" Chicago would be pretty high. But if you are one of the 95% of the population of Chicago not in those fields (as well as a few other very high paying fields) (and not making less than 100k a year) I am sure the satisfaction rate is not quite anywhere close to being so high.

[Bluefox]

Yeah but aren't the factors upon which they determine the index relevant to the 99% of the population? Public transportation and services? Recreation? Economic environment?

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Bluefoxwarrior

Yeah but aren't the factors upon which they determine the index relevant to the 99% of the population? Public transportation and services? Recreation? Economic environment?

Schools? 75-90% of the CPS is GARBAGE.

Personal freedom? Ha!

Crime? Ha!

Air pollution? Ha!

[jdiddy]

I'm skeptical about any of these lists. But in this case, they are right. Chicago is a very pleasant city to live in.

However, if you are naturally grumpy, or live in a not so pleasant part of Chicago, you may have a different opinion. And you may voice that opinion repeatedly on the internet.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Schools? 75-90% of the CPS is GARBAGE.

Personal freedom? Ha!

Crime? Ha!

Air pollution? Ha!

If you find a city that doesn't have any problems, let me know! (I thought San Diego was going to come close, but it didn't make the list must be the terrible public transportation)

People are going to have negative experiences in good cities, and positive experiences in bad cities. And I'm generally skeptical of these studies too, but for the fact that in this case Mercer is a reputable global consultancy whose data are relied upon by global organizations.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Bluefoxwarrior

...but for the fact that in this case Mercer is a reputable global consultancy whose data are relied upon by global organizations.

For job transfers of people of a particular type.

"The information and data obtained through the Quality of Living Reports (the “Reports”) are for information purposes only and are intended for use by multi-national organizations and government agencies that transfer employees from one country to another."

http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivin...Ranking_Tables

Like I said-a particular type.

And according to Mercer (2009) Chicago is number 50 in the world for highest cost of living.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...iate_employees

[Lookout Kid]

They must be referring to the Chicago region, since the schools and political situation in the City couldn't be a whole lot worse without being Third World.

[Drover]

Unlike Forbes, Mercer's "best places" lists are serious, because providing serious data on these matters is a core part of their business. That said, one presumes they're comparing whole metro areas, not just the cities proper.

[linicx]

I did not find Chicago on the top 50 Cities, but I did find Minneapolis at #5 - which I thought was interesting - but it is not the point. A city that has perfect roads has no business and a city that no issues is a ghost town. Inland cities have different issues than cities that sprawl along large bodies of water. I don't discount Mercer or Sperling or Forbes, but most of these writers have not set foot in the cities they opine on. Chicago is as much THE MIDWEST as NYC is THE EAST COAST and MIAMI is Florida, yet there is no fair way to compare them.