Quote :

"World's Top 100 Most Livable Cities A new Mercer study ranks cities by the quality of life they offer expatriate executives and their families across the world What foreign postings are most coveted by expatriate executives? To find out, Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which provides advice to multinational companies on international assignments, has come up with a global ranking of the world's most livable cities based on 39 key quality-of-life issues. They include political stability, currency-exchange regulations, political and media censorship, school quality, housing, the environment and public safety."

for slideshow of top 20 with nice pics:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/04/0406_liveable_cities/index_01.htm

for table of rankings showing 215 cities:
http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/livable_cities_worldwide/

lot of US cities on the list, but most are ranked between 44 and 68. top is Honolulu, at 27. 215 is Baghdad.

Note: Cities together in list without a line break are consecutive in rankings.

1  ZURICH Switzerland 108.1
2  GENEVA Switzerland 108.0
3  VANCOUVER Canada 107.7
3  VIENNA Austria 107.7
5  AUCKLAND New Zealand 107.3
5  DUSSELDORF Germany 107.3
7  FRANKFURT Germany 107.1
8  MUNICH Germany 106.9
9  BERN Switzerland 106.5
9  SYDNEY Australia 106.5


27  HONOLULU, HI United States 103.3
29  SAN FRANCISCO, CA United States 103.2


36  BOSTON, MA United States 101.9


44  WASHINGTON, DC United States 100.4
44  CHICAGO, IL United States 100.4
46  PORTLAND, OR United States 100.3


48  NEW YORK CITY, NY United States 100.0


49  SEATTLE, WA United States 99.9
51  LEXINGTON, KY United States 99.8
52  PITTSBURGH, PA United States 99.7
52  WINSTON SALEM, NC United States 99.7


55  LOS ANGELES, CA United States 98.3
59  CLEVELAND, OH United States 98.2
60  MINNEAPOLIS, MN United States 97.9


62  MIAMI, FL United States 96.3


64  DETROIT, MI United States 96.1
64  ST. LOUIS, MO United States 96.1
66  ATLANTA, GA United States 95.7


68  HOUSTON, TX United States 95.4


100  SHANGHAI China 81.6


200  PORT AU PRINCE Haiti 41.4


210  NDJAMENA Chad 34.0
211  POINTE NOIRE Congo 33.0
212  KHARTOUM Sudan 31.0
213  BANGUI Central African Republic 30.6
214  BRAZZAVILLE Congo 29.5
215  BAGHDAD Iraq 14.5

4/10/2007 9:29:38 AM

how'd those last ones make it

[Edited on April 10, 2007 at 9:31 AM. Reason : e]

4/10/2007 9:30:56 AM

ah fuck it... why can't i get fuckin line breaks???? click on edit post of first post.

here is what it is supposed to look like, without the code tags:

1 ZURICH Switzerland 108.1
2 GENEVA Switzerland 108.0
3 VANCOUVER Canada 107.7
3 VIENNA Austria 107.7
5 AUCKLAND New Zealand 107.3
5 DUSSELDORF Germany 107.3
7 FRANKFURT Germany 107.1
8 MUNICH Germany 106.9
9 BERN Switzerland 106.5
9 SYDNEY Australia 106.5


27 HONOLULU, HI United States 103.3
29 SAN FRANCISCO, CA United States 103.2


36 BOSTON, MA United States 101.9


44 WASHINGTON, DC United States 100.4
44 CHICAGO, IL United States 100.4
46 PORTLAND, OR United States 100.3


48 NEW YORK CITY, NY United States 100.0


49 SEATTLE, WA United States 99.9
51 LEXINGTON, KY United States 99.8
52 PITTSBURGH, PA United States 99.7
52 WINSTON SALEM, NC United States 99.7


55 LOS ANGELES, CA United States 98.3
59 CLEVELAND, OH United States 98.2
60 MINNEAPOLIS, MN United States 97.9


62 MIAMI, FL United States 96.3


64 DETROIT, MI United States 96.1
64 ST. LOUIS, MO United States 96.1
66 ATLANTA, GA United States 95.7


68 HOUSTON, TX United States 95.4


100 SHANGHAI China 81.6


200 PORT AU PRINCE Haiti 41.4


210 NDJAMENA Chad 34.0
211 POINTE NOIRE Congo 33.0
212 KHARTOUM Sudan 31.0
213 BANGUI Central African Republic 30.6
214 BRAZZAVILLE Congo 29.5
215 BAGHDAD Iraq 14.5

4/10/2007 9:35:37 AM

uhh, they're in last place

4/10/2007 9:35:46 AM

Kind of pointless for most things. They picked 215 cities corporations likely export workers to and ranked those cities. Doesn't really give much information unless you are comparing two cities on the list as Honolulu might actually be ranked lower than Raleigh (just an example) but Raleigh wasn't considered as it isn't an international business location.

4/10/2007 9:44:13 AM

yeah but

there are more than 215 cities in the world

id rather live in some small town with not much going on than baghdad


oh nm

it consolidated the study to only those 215.

[Edited on April 10, 2007 at 9:46 AM. Reason : e]

4/10/2007 9:45:09 AM

winston-salem?

4/10/2007 9:46:41 AM

Fuck winston-salem.


There are 200 cities in the world i'd rather live in than winston.

4/10/2007 9:47:53 AM

you can't argue with the top 25. they are all great cities, with very low crime rates, extremely high standards of living, and are very clean and cultured.

heck, even the top 40.

4/10/2007 9:49:51 AM

mmm lets all move to detroit.

4/10/2007 9:56:35 AM

I'm not arguing that the top 25 aren't great cities. I'm sure the top 75% are pretty nice. If I had to move to one of these 215 particular cities, the list would be useful. Otherwise not. And I don't understand how you can compare a city like Winston Salem to New York. Realistically this should be divided groups by population.

4/10/2007 10:04:07 AM

my brother lives in frankfurt

4/10/2007 10:04:54 AM

HAY GUYZ

like all rankings, these are subjective, so don't get your panties in a wad.

(i knew this would happen, just like in that net readiness thread in the SB)

^ yes, to make it better, it should be done by population/size

and i hope you meant the top 75, not the top 75%.

4/10/2007 10:07:22 AM

actually if detroit is in the 60's I meant top 50

4/10/2007 10:10:00 AM

210 NDJAMENA Chad 34.0
211 POINTE NOIRE Congo 33.0
212 KHARTOUM Sudan 31.0
213 BANGUI Central African Republic 30.6
214 BRAZZAVILLE Congo 29.5
215 BAGHDAD Iraq 14.5
.
.
.
450 WINSTON-SALEM, NC United States -42.7

4/10/2007 10:10:27 AM

^^ haha gg! but damn, i didn't even see detroit in there... isn't that where houses are being sold for 20K and there is rampant crime and stuff? (there is a thread in the SB about it)

^ so where is detroit?

4/10/2007 10:12:19 AM

it looks like they just picked 215 cities and ranked them.....i dont think they took all cities into consideration.

4/10/2007 10:13:52 AM

OMG THERE ARE ONLY 215 CITIES IN THE WORLD!!!

4/10/2007 10:15:24 AM

>o >o

4/10/2007 10:16:06 AM

Somebody got into Marion Barry's stash.

Quote :

"44 WASHINGTON, DC United States 100.4"

4/10/2007 10:23:43 AM

Quote :

"210 NDJAMENA Chad 34.0 211 POINTE NOIRE Congo 33.0 212 KHARTOUM Sudan 31.0 213 BANGUI Central African Republic 30.6 214 BRAZZAVILLE Congo 29.5 215 BAGHDAD Iraq 14.5"

all in africa except one...

4/10/2007 10:25:49 AM

great places to live if you want to pay out the nose for everything...

4/10/2007 10:28:30 AM

Another set of worthless rankings printed by Businessweek

4/10/2007 11:18:36 AM

Quote :

"5 AUCKLAND New Zealand 107.3"

I was there for a month.

great place to live, but nightlife is fucking nuts. I would see fights occuring almost every weekend. People walking around with black eyes and busted lips.

Street racing is big down there too, so a lot of noise at night


I dont agree with this list... unless you can afford all the nice hotels in the nice areas.

4/10/2007 12:23:49 PM

3 VIENNA Austria 107.7
7 FRANKFURT Germany 107.1
8 MUNICH Germany 106.9

I've lived in each of those for a couple of weeks.

Vienna was pretty impressive but Frankfurt and Munich were just like any other German city and don't see why they would rank up there. I guess short term living may be alot different than several years.

4/10/2007 12:30:26 PM

Frankfurt is not a place I would want to live, it's meh...

Looks like a "let's felate the Europeans study"

Germany has some pretty strict media censorship laws as well, so that must not be weighted very much.

4/10/2007 12:36:40 PM

how does Baghdad make a list with "political stability" and "public safety"

there truly are only 215 cities in the world

4/10/2007 12:38:44 PM

winston salem fuck that. the mayor of W.S must be sucking someones dick

4/10/2007 1:15:23 PM

Numbers 200 and down don't strike me as even close to liveable.

4/10/2007 2:02:53 PM

thats why its called "World's Top 100 Most Livable Cities "

4/10/2007 2:09:19 PM

i will be living in number 200, its not that bad

also i dont see how they have winston salem but not raleigh

[Edited on April 10, 2007 at 2:24 PM. Reason : .]

4/10/2007 2:20:45 PM

or charlotte

4/10/2007 2:31:46 PM

yeah, i would put both of those above winston-salem

4/10/2007 2:41:46 PM

i'm surprised Durham was not number 12

4/10/2007 2:42:50 PM

When are we going to get the World's Top 100 Top 100 Lists?

(because I really want to know which of these lists I should read, and which to ignore)

[Edited on April 10, 2007 at 2:45 PM. Reason : .]

4/10/2007 2:45:22 PM

MIA is on there. I love the outskirts of that place. someday, someday.

4/10/2007 10:14:26 PM

Honolulu is great because it has Dog the Bounty Hunter regulating things.

4/10/2007 10:28:39 PM

I wonder where Darfur, Sudan was ranked.....I heard its....nice...this time of year

4/10/2007 10:31:46 PM

I think a key part of this study is being ignored here:

Quote :

"A new Mercer study ranks cities by the quality of life they offer expatriate executives and their families across the world"

It's not like a "100 best cities to live, period" study.

4/10/2007 11:02:49 PM

Honolulu (and oahu in general) sucks ass, I don't know why anyone would want to live there. Any of the other 6 Islands are amazing.

4/10/2007 11:09:56 PM

I live just outside of Winston. While it's nice on the outskirts (Clemmons, K-veg, northern part of davidson co.) the city itself is kinda shoddy. Not much nightlife, the downtown is blahhh, and can actually be pretty damn scary at times.

I will say there's a sort-of small town, neighborly feel to the city that's pretty unique for a city its size. I've lived in Raleigh, Tampa, and Johnson City (TN), and have found Winston to be a much friendlier place than the others .... much more home-feeling. Still boring as shit though.


But i did see Andy Roddick out at a bar Winston this weekend. That was kind of interesting.

[Edited on April 10, 2007 at 11:25 PM. Reason : ]

4/10/2007 11:23:19 PM

Quote :

"I wonder where Darfur, Sudan was ranked.....I heard its....nice...this time of year"

problably nowhere because it's a region and not a city

4/11/2007 12:25:38 AM

OMG, no city in NC made the list, it must be bogus!!!!

4/11/2007 12:38:07 AM

you must have missed the part where it said:

52 WINSTON SALEM, NC United States 99.7

unless that was a completely pointless sarcastic remark.

4/11/2007 3:44:47 AM

Gee, thanks Businessweek! You've helped me alot!!111

I was about to move to Brazzaville, Congo, but thanks to your study, I've found that a better city would be Pointe Noire.

4/11/2007 9:05:27 AM

52 WINSTON SALEM, NC United States 99.7-----I am blown away. I'm from Winston and while it is OK, it certainly isn't amazing or anything. I'd much rather live in Raleigh

4/11/2007 10:10:21 AM

Quote :

"200 PORT AU PRINCE Haiti 41.4"

wtf?!?

4/11/2007 11:22:46 AM

Quote :

"I will say there's a sort-of small town, neighborly feel to the city that's pretty unique for a city its size. I've lived in Raleigh, Tampa, and Johnson City (TN), and have found Winston to be a much friendlier place than the others .... much more home-feeling. Still boring as shit though."

I grew up in Winston, and you, sir, are exactly right. It's somewhere I'd want to raise kids (especially in the RJR district) but not live as a young professional!

4/11/2007 12:22:03 PM

Quote :

"I was there for a month. great place to live, but nightlife is fucking nuts. I would see fights occuring almost every weekend. People walking around with black eyes and busted lips. Street racing is big down there too, so a lot of noise at night I dont agree with this list... unless you can afford all the nice hotels in the nice areas. "

I think Auckland, NZ deserves to be #5. I'm living here now, it's beautiful, and there is sooooooo many things to do. The social atmosphere is great, as is the culture, sport, etc. - I would be interested in raising a family in Auckland if I had a choice. It's true that there is lots of fights when you go downtown - but its just scraps - I've been in a few since I have been here, i hvnt seen or heard of any one pulling a knife or a gun - just the occasional broken bottle. While it may seem rough on appearance, I dont think the fights you see in town are actually "dangerous."

4/12/2007 7:30:01 AM

Quote :

"68 HOUSTON, TX United States 95.4"

Sweet, looking forward to the summer!

4/12/2007 8:32:39 PM