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It's possible that the list is missing many other possibilities. Those are large cities listed, but there are medium-sized ones too that might be considered. And the larger the city, the more likely that pollution can be a problem, which lessens quality of life.
Political and social environment: Vancouver
Economic environment: San Francisco
Socio-cultural environment: San Francisco
Medical and health considerations: Boston
Schools and education: Boston
Public services and transportation: NYC
Recreation: Chicago
Consumer goods: Chicago
Housing: Houston
Natural environment: Seattle
People might be a bit shocked when they see Chicago as my choice for recreation, but included are things like parks, usable water front, dining, comedy, music, zoos, etc. IMO, with all things considered and convenience of use, Chicago punches the strongest in North America in that category by a wide margin.
As for the rest, they're certainly debatable. Very few of these have definable metrics, with the exception of education quality (test scores) and some pretty dynamic hospital and healthcare rankings available. I considered things like per capita GDP and diversity of vertical when picking the economic environment.
Curious to see what else folks have to say, or what other cities should be considered.
Lots wrong with this list. Focuses way too much on a metro's population size rather than the actual quality of the area. Too many key metros left out that have much better qualities of life.
Categories such as "socio-cultural environment" and "political/social environment" are completely useless considerations due to their overly subjective nature, depending on which side of the political fence you're on.
I don’t see how one can effectively evaluate quality of life without factoring in cost-of-living.
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