I recently attended a conference at KAUST. It's a microcosm, and a very interesting one. They have absolutely world class facilities for science. The campus

I recently attended a conference at KAUST. It's a microcosm, and a very interesting one. They have absolutely world class facilities for science. The campus amenities are very nice. Housing is provided, and is probably 2x what you would get yourself. The hotel room (if you can call it that) that I stayed in was a 1300 sq.ft. two bedroom, two bath. The campus is a designed town, so everything is walkable and there are lots of greenways. There is schooling for elementary through high school, though I was told there are very few high school aged kids. However, there were many elementary aged children, and they seemed to lead a free-er life than their US contemporaries. I suppose there is no need to be a helicopter parent when you are in such a community. They have two recreational facilities which rival large state schools facilities in size and rival large private schools in quality. They pay their grad students, postdocs, and faculty on about a 2-3x multiplier. However, the campus is small, it's circumference is only ~5 miles, after a week, I was feeling content, but somewhat trapped. I feel it would be a very good place to do work for a few years, but life would be difficult to compare to a "normal" US lifestyle.