We might be paying out the nose for our rentals and mortgages, but darn do we have it good here in Vancouver. At least we have it good enough to net Vancouver a fresh ranking as the number one North American city for "Quality of Living."
The ranking is courtesy a company called Mercer's 2018 Quality of Living survey of global cities. The ranking is essentially a research tool for providing employees who may travel to work abroad information about working life around the world, or companies looking to open an office in another city.
Vancouver/Shutterstock
The list takes a look at factors such a climate, sanitation standards, ease of communication, political violence, remoteness, schools and education, recreation, natural environment, transportation, medical and health, and more, for a total of 39 components.
For 2018, Vancouver was ranked fifth overall in the world; the top-ranking U.S. city was San Francisco at number 30. Two other Canadian cities, Toronto (16) and Ottawa (19) cracked the top 20.
Screenshot/Mercer 2018 Quality of Living
The best city for quality of life according to the 2018 survey is Vienna, Austria, claiming the spot for the ninth year running. Rounding out the top are Zurich, Switzerland (2), Auckland, New Zealand (3) and Munich, Germany (3) in a tie, followed by Vancouver (5), Dusseldorf, Germany (6), Frankfurt, Germany (7), and three cities tied for 8th: Copenhagen, Denmark; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm, Sweden.
