U.S. cities get no love in worldwide quality of living survey
The euro may be going the way of the aurochs, but that doesn’t stop the old country from mopping up on the latest Worldwide Quality of Living Survey.
A scene from the best city on Earth -- Vienna, Austria.
Vienna, Austria, home of tiny sausages, is the best place to live on Earth, according to Mercer, a human resource consulting firm that ranks cities annually to help companies determine “compensation packages rationally, consistently and systematically.”
Honolulu, Hawaii is the top U.S. city, surfing in at No. 29.
Clearly, weather and bikini-watching are not part of the ranking equation. But the ability to speak German must be — it’s the primary language spoken in 7 of the top 10 cities.
Other U.S. cities to make the top 50 include San Francisco (30), Boston (36), Chicago and Washington, D.C. (tied, along with Madrid, at 43), New York (47), Seattle (48) and Pittsburgh (49).
No Georgia cities — including but not limited to Atlanta, Remerton and Ty-Ty — made the list.
Canada, our friendly neighbors to the north, have four cities better than Honolulu, according to Mercer.
Cities tourists may want to avoid include Khartoum, Sudan (217), Port-au-Prince, Haiti (218), N’Djamena, Chad (219), and Bangui, Central African Republic (220). Baghdad, Iraq (221) ranks last.
The U.S. is shut out completely from Mercer’s list of 50 safest cities. Once again, German-speaking areas excel, taking 9 of the top 15 spots. Baghdad is last on the safety list too.
The exact method of ranking is a bit mysterious, but Mercer says it ranks living conditions according to 39 factors, including political stability, currency exchange regulations, traffic congestion, availability of food and climate.
If the Euro does go bust, I predict the U.S. will fare better in the 2012 survey.
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43 comments Add your comment
Brian
December 5th, 2011
8:57 pm
My god this is a horribly written blurb. Sometimes I wonder if AJC writers ever read what they’ve written before you click ’send’.
gfg
December 5th, 2011
9:09 pm
of course the us is left out of the list. anyone who has traveled out of the US can tell you how much nicer asian and european cities are.
where atl
December 5th, 2011
9:12 pm
Atlanta didn’t make the “best cities in the world” list?? surely, you can’t be serious?? the fraud, waste and corruption in this city rivals detroit, newark and some other cities in the world. Is there a list for that???
Deal With IT
December 5th, 2011
9:29 pm
In order for Atlanta to correct itself…is…get rid of the crime. I am sick of it.
bev
December 5th, 2011
9:50 pm
No surprise here. Atlanta sucks!!!
ron c
December 5th, 2011
9:57 pm
ron…worry about yourself you moron.
"Vote For Obama Because He's Black"
December 5th, 2011
9:58 pm
Atlanta is all black and all gay,full of folks that come from small hick towns and folks from Jersey,Detroit,NY,who find out they can get a section 8.4 bedroom house for $200 a month in Lithonia.
They got money left over to pay for a Benz,rent some rims,cruise around buckhead thinking they are all that.
You can’t roll like that in educated top notch metros like DC,San Fran,LA,Manhatten,or Boston.Takes some real smarts and a good education,not one from Morris Brown or Dekalb Tech.
Too expensive for these clowns here.They’d get laughed at too.
Bunch of women here like RHOA wiearing weaves with loud mouths and no class.
That’s ATL.
Sensible
December 5th, 2011
10:01 pm
As usual when ever there is a political topic on the AJC.com it brings out a furry of racist, bigoted comments. Is there any wonder why ATL and the U.S. cities in general did not make this list? I lived in Zurich, Switzerland for a year, incredible DIVERSITY of all races, amazing culture where intellectualism is celebrated, clean, green – everything is recycled, and a government that is very much for the people, not the corporations and the wealthy Oligarchs. All this racist, Red/Blue, Liberal/Conservative, anti-intellectualism, anti-immigrant, B.S. is destroying foundations of the U.S. Divided we fall. Think outside the FOX! Wake Up America!
Tayek
December 5th, 2011
10:02 pm
For those of you playing the race card (I’m black by the way), I must ask, don’t you think the cities at the bottom of the list are really indeed safe places? I am of African and Caribbean descent, and I can tell you that places like Kinshasa, Bangui, and parts of Kingston are not places with great qualities of life. Sure, it’s sad that these places are majority black populations, but truth is truth. Many of us from Africa would never walk around parts of even Johannesburg. If you think you can go to these places and waive your “African-American” flag and think that you would be accepted with open arms, fahgetaboutit!!
Tayek
December 5th, 2011
10:03 pm
Ammended
For those of you playing the race card (I’m black by the way), I must ask, do you think the cities at the bottom of the list are really indeed safe places? I am of African and Caribbean descent, and I can tell you that places like Kinshasa, Bangui, and parts of Kingston are not places with great qualities of life. Sure, it’s sad that these places are majority black populations, but truth is truth. Many of us from Africa would never walk around parts of even Johannesburg. If you think you can go to these places and waive your “African-American” flag and think that you would be accepted with open arms, fahgetaboutit!!