Auckland rising

Auckland is now tied fourth-equal as the best city in the world, according to the annual Worldwide Quality of Living Survey conducted by Mercer. It’s intended to help corporations to work out how well their employees will fare as expats.

Last year, Auckland was fifth. Sydney, the highest rating Australian city, remains only tenth best, as it was last year. Wellington again is ranked 12th.

Last year, my old hometown of Chicago was tied for 44th along with Washington, DC, Osaka and Lisbon. That tie remains the same this year. The highest-ranking US city was Honolulu at 29, followed immediately by San Francisco. The top five rated North American cities are all Canadian.

I still can’t say whether I put any faith in these results, but I take them at face value. And I continue to be pleased that Auckland rates better than any Australian city, and that New Zealand has two cities in the top twelve, while our cousins across the ditch have only one.

The top ten cities are:
1. Vienna (Austria)
2. Zurich (Switzerland)
3. Geneva (Switzerland)
4. Auckland (New Zealand) and Vancouver (Canada)
6. Dusseldorf (Germany)
7. Munich (Germany
8. Frankfurt (Germany)
9. Bern (Switzerland)
10. Sydney (Australia)