Mercer Quality of Living Survey

The Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranks 221 cities from Vienna to Baghdad on quality of life.^[1]

In 2010, Vienna won the title as the highest ranked city, followed by Zurich (2), Geneva (3), jointly Vancouver (4) and Auckland (4), and Düsseldorf (5). Vienna was again the highest ranked city in 2011, followed by Zurich (2), Auckland (3), Munich (4) and jointly Düsseldorf (5) and Vancouver (5). The quality of living survey is conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments.

The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based upon internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries. In this case, Luxembourg is top, followed by Bern, Helsinki and Zurich, all equally placed at number 2.

Scoring [edit]

The cities — 221 in total — were evaluated on 39 factors including political, economic, environmental, personal safety, health, education, transportation and other public service factors. Cities were compared to New York City which was given a base score of 100.

Vienna, Austria

Zurich, Switzerland

Vancouver, Canada

Auckland, New Zealand

Düsseldorf, Germany

Sydney, Australia

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Toronto, Canada

Berlin, Germany

Melbourne, Australia

Stockholm, Sweden

Wellington, New Zealand

Port Louis, Mauritius

Calgary, Canada

Singapore

Dublin, Ireland

Lisbon, Portugal

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Oslo, Norway

Chicago, United States

2012 Rank	2010 Rank	City	Country	Index 2010
1	1	Vienna	Austria	108.6
2	2	Zurich	Switzerland	108.0
8	3	Geneva	Switzerland	107.9
5	4	Vancouver	Canada	107.4
3	4	Auckland	New Zealand	107.4
6	6	Düsseldorf	Germany	107.2
7	7	Frankfurt	Germany	107.0
4	7	Munich	Germany	107.0
10	9	Bern	Switzerland	106.5
10	10	Sydney	Australia	106.3
9	11	Copenhagen	Denmark	106.2
13	12	Wellington	New Zealand	105.9
12	13	Amsterdam	Netherlands	105.7
14	14	Ottawa	Canada	105.5
22	15	Brussels	Belgium	105.4
15	16	Toronto	Canada	105.3
16	17	Berlin	Germany	105.0
17	18	Melbourne	Australia	104.8
19	19	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	104.6
19	20	Stockholm	Sweden	104.5
21	21	Perth	Australia	104.2
23	21	Montreal	Canada	104.2
17	23	Hamburg	Germany	104.1
24	24	Nürnberg	Germany	103.9
32	24	Oslo	Norway	103.9
26	26	Canberra	Australia	103.6
35	26	Dublin	Ireland	103.6
32	28	Calgary	Canada	103.5
25	28	Singapore	Singapore	103.5
27	30	Stuttgart	Germany	103.3
28	31	Honolulu	United States	103.1
29	32	Adelaide	Australia	103.0
29	32	San Francisco	United States	103.0
29	34	Paris	France	102.9
32	35	Helsinki	Finland	102.6
37	36	Brisbane	Australia	102.4
35	37	Boston	United States	102.2
39	38	Lyon	France	101.9
38	39	London	United Kingdom	101.6
44	40	Tokyo	Japan	101.4
41	41	Milan	Italy	100.8
48	41	Kobe	Japan	100.8
49	41	Yokohama	Japan	100.8
40	44	Barcelona	Spain	100.6
44	45	Lisbon	Portugal	100.3
42	45	Chicago	United States	100.3
43	45	Washington DC	United States	100.3
49	48	Madrid	Spain	100.2
44	49	New York City	United States	100.0
44	50	Seattle	United States	99.8
-	49	Pittsburgh	United States	-