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Where "best" is based only on size of salary. What about: cost of living, number of startups, number of large employers, housing costs, quality of life? Edit:

Where "best" is based only on size of salary. What about: cost of living, number of startups, number of large employers, housing costs, quality of life? Edit: Changed "life quality" to "quality of life".

yummyfajitas 13y ago
From the article: ...dividing the average salary by the index of living costs. Presumably this includes "housing costs". What does "life quality" even mean?
- andyjohnson0 13y ago
  Good point. Edited to change "life quality" to "quality of life", which can be quantified. For example, see http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/BLI2013-Country-Notes.pdf http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/BLI2013-Country-Notes.pdf
- unwind 13y ago
  There are ways to try and capture that, often using various surveys. Here's one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercer_Quality_of_Living_Survey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercer_Quality_of_Living_Survey, but for cities rather than countries.
  - arethuza 13y ago
    I love how inconsistent these kinds of surveys are - the only UK city listed is London. However, a survey of cities in the UK gives Bristol and Edinburgh as the top two and London in 7th place. http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/edinburgh-named-second-best-place-to-live-in-uk-1-3149764 http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/edinburgh-... [I must declare my blatant, but understandable, bias in favour of Edinburgh]
- davidw 13y ago
  While I agree that it's a tough question to answer, I can say that I am happier here in Padova, Italy, than I was in Portland, Oregon, despite the latter regularly doing really well in "quality of life" survey kinds of things. Partially because my own ranking places a lot of weight on the weather. In any event, I agree with the people who have doubts that this particular survey does not have enough data to really do a good job.
Nassfyr 13y ago
There's also a couple of countries such as France where you have to pay for the life assurance, retirement and so on. (which is deduced from your salary) I don't think these stats consider that for countries like USA where you have to pay your own assurance, save for your retirement... (which is not deduced from your salary)

yummyfajitas 13y ago

From the article: ...dividing the average salary by the index of living costs. Presumably this includes "housing costs". What does "life quality" even mean?

andyjohnson0 13y ago
Good point. Edited to change "life quality" to "quality of life", which can be quantified. For example, see http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/BLI2013-Country-Notes.pdf http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/BLI2013-Country-Notes.pdf
unwind 13y ago
There are ways to try and capture that, often using various surveys. Here's one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercer_Quality_of_Living_Survey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercer_Quality_of_Living_Survey, but for cities rather than countries.
- arethuza 13y ago
  I love how inconsistent these kinds of surveys are - the only UK city listed is London. However, a survey of cities in the UK gives Bristol and Edinburgh as the top two and London in 7th place. http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/edinburgh-named-second-best-place-to-live-in-uk-1-3149764 http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/edinburgh-... [I must declare my blatant, but understandable, bias in favour of Edinburgh]
davidw 13y ago
While I agree that it's a tough question to answer, I can say that I am happier here in Padova, Italy, than I was in Portland, Oregon, despite the latter regularly doing really well in "quality of life" survey kinds of things. Partially because my own ranking places a lot of weight on the weather. In any event, I agree with the people who have doubts that this particular survey does not have enough data to really do a good job.

Nassfyr 13y ago

There's also a couple of countries such as France where you have to pay for the life assurance, retirement and so on. (which is deduced from your salary) I don't think these stats consider that for countries like USA where you have to pay your own assurance, save for your retirement... (which is not deduced from your salary)