[kstenerud]

I've lived and worked in Canada, USA, UK, Japan, and Germany. I've also done a fair bit of traveling.

Yes, on a per-capita GDP basis, the USA is technically "ahead", but when it comes to daily living, it's FAR behind. During my 6 years in the USA, I saw roads falling apart, terrible infrastructure, litter everywhere, crime and poverty the likes I've never seen outside of third world countries. The only thing even close to the USA was urban UK, which (other than parts of Southern Europe and Paris) is probably the dirtiest of the Western European countries. But even they weren't as bad as the USA. (Bear in mind I lived in the UK in the late 90s. Things may have changed since then)

Put simply, the quality of life in America was FAR worse than any other country I've lived in.

The consumption index is also not the greatest measure, since it has a lot to do with consumer attitudes & materialism, which are different in most of the world compared to America and Japan (I've never seen materialistic attitudes as strong as there).

After moving to Germany, I have no desire to live elsewhere.

[rmellow]

As someone in tech who chose to grow their career in Canada instead of the US (where I could easily make double), I very much appreciate your comment.

I still haven't discarded the possibility to move to Europe, as there are aspects of the lifestyle here that I have a hard time getting used to. Comes to mind: the high amount of drug users and mentally ill people screaming on the streets, completely ignored by the state.

Are there any metrics for quality of life that take into account happiness?

[kstenerud]

Hmm, this site might help: https://www.theearthawaits.com/

Generally, you want to live in a place with a low disparity between rich and poor. They'll usually have lower crime, lower social problems, better maintained infrastructure, lower corruption, better culture. Scandinavia is probably the best you can get, if you don't mind the cold ;-)

[david38]

America is a really really big country. What parts were you talking about? The wealth diversity even within say, California or even Virginia, hell even a tiny state like New Jersey is enormous.

In no places I’ve ever lived has infrastructure been a problem. Crime has been a slight problem, but not much.