Quality of life is a measure of comfort, health, and happiness by a person or a group of people. Quality of life is determined by both material factors, such as income and housing, and broader considerations like health, education, and freedom. Each year, US & World News releases its “Best States to Live in” report, which ranks states on the quality of life each state provides its residents. In order to determine rankings, U.S. News & World Report considers a wide range of factors, including healthcare, education, economy, infrastructure, opportunity, fiscal stability, crime and corrections, and the natural environment. More information on these categories and what is measured in each can be found below:

Healthcare includes access, quality, and affordability of healthcare, as well as health measurements, such as obesity rates and rates of smoking. Education measures how well public schools perform in terms of testing and graduation rates, as well as tuition costs associated with higher education and college debt load. Economy looks at GDP growth, migration to the state, and new business. Infrastructure includes transportation availability, road quality, communications, and internet access. Opportunity includes poverty rates, cost of living, housing costs and gender and racial equality. Fiscal Stability considers the health of the government's finances, including how well the state balances its budget. Crime and Corrections ranks a state’s public safety and measures prison systems and their populations. Natural Environment looks at the quality of air and water and exposure to pollution.

Quality of Life by State 2024

https://www.googleapis.com/download/storage/v1/b/kaggle-user-content/o/inbox%2F1937611%2F82267b1a15f8669ec2a072972bebccb5%2Fquality-of-life-by-us-state.png?generation=1717697280376438&alt=media" alt="">

This dataset provides insights into the quality of life across different states in the United States for the year 2024. Quality of life, encompassing aspects like comfort, health, and happiness, is evaluated through various metrics including affordability, economy, education, and safety. Dive into this dataset to understand how different states fare in terms of overall quality of life and its individual components.

Columns Description

• State: The name of the U.S. state.
• QualityOfLifeTotalScore: The total score representing the overall quality of life for the respective state. This score is calculated based on various quality of life metrics.
• QualityOfLifeQualityOfLife: The score representing the quality of life aspect for the respective state. This aspect may include subjective factors related to happiness, satisfaction, and overall well-being. Higher scores may indicate a higher level of subjective well-being, happiness, or overall satisfaction among residents. Lower scores could suggest lower levels of subjective well-being.
• QualityOfLifeAffordability: The score representing the affordability aspect of the quality of life for the respective state. This aspect evaluates factors such as cost of living, housing affordability, and income levels. Higher scores typically indicate greater affordability of housing, cost of living, and basic necessities. Lower scores may suggest that these essentials are less accessible or more expensive for residents.
• QualityOfLifeEconomy: The score representing the economic aspect of the quality of life for the respective state. This aspect assesses factors such as employment opportunities, economic growth, and income distribution. Higher scores may reflect a stronger economy with more job opportunities, higher incomes, and lower levels of poverty. Lower scores might indicate economic challenges such as unemployment or income inequality.
• QualityOfLifeEducationAndHealth: The score representing the education and health aspect of the quality of life for the respective state. This aspect considers factors such as access to quality education, healthcare facilities, and overall public health indicators. Higher scores generally signify better access to quality education, healthcare services, and overall public health. Lower scores may indicate deficiencies in these areas, such as limited access to healthcare or lower educational attainment levels.
• QualityOfLifeSafety: The score representing the safety aspect of the quality of life for the respective state. This aspect evaluates factors such as crime rates, public safety measures, and community well-being initiatives. Higher scores suggest lower crime rates, better community safety, and a higher sense of security among residents. Lower scores may indicate higher crime rates or concerns about safety.

These descriptions provide an overview of what each column represents and the specific aspects of quality of life they assess for each U.S. state.

In 2022, the United States' E-infrastructure index amounted to ******. By contrast, the Internet affordability index was only ******.

Luxembourg stands out as the European leader in quality of life for 2025, achieving a score of 220 on the Quality of Life Index. The Netherlands follows closely behind with 211 points, while Albania and Ukraine rank at the bottom with scores of 104 and 115 respectively. This index provides a thorough assessment of living conditions across Europe, reflecting various factors that shape the overall well-being of populations and extending beyond purely economic metrics. Understanding the quality of life index The quality of life index is a multifaceted measure that incorporates factors such as purchasing power, pollution levels, housing affordability, cost of living, safety, healthcare quality, traffic conditions, and climate, to measure the overall quality of life of a Country. Higher overall index scores indicate better living conditions. However, in subindexes such as pollution, cost of living, and traffic commute time, lower values correspond to improved quality of life. Challenges affecting life satisfaction Despite the fact that European countries register high levels of life quality by for example leading the ranking of happiest countries in the world, life satisfaction across the European Union has been on a downward trend since 2018. The EU's overall life satisfaction score dropped from 7.3 out of 10 in 2018 to 7.1 in 2022. This decline can be attributed to various factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and economic challenges such as high inflation. Rising housing costs, in particular, have emerged as a critical concern, significantly affecting quality of life. This issue has played a central role in shaping voter priorities for the European Parliamentary Elections in 2024 and becoming one of the most pressing challenges for Europeans, profoundly influencing both daily experiences and long-term well-being.

The dataset contains US counties ranking data based on measures of health outcomes and health determinants. The measures used to establish counties ranks are related to length and quality of life for health outcomes and to health behavior, clinical care, socioeconomic and physical environment factors for health determinants. US counties are described along with their FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) code and the US state they belong.

Quality of Life Index (higher is better) is an estimation of overall quality of life by using an empirical formula which takes into account purchasing power index (higher is better), pollution index (lower is better), house price to income ratio (lower is better), cost of living index (lower is better), safety index (higher is better), health care index (higher is better), traffic commute time index (lower is better) and climate index (higher is better).

Current formula (written in Java programming language):

index.main = Math.max(0, 100 + purchasingPowerInclRentIndex / 2.5 - (housePriceToIncomeRatio * 1.0) - costOfLivingIndex / 10 + safetyIndex / 2.0 + healthIndex / 2.5 - trafficTimeIndex / 2.0 - pollutionIndex * 2.0 / 3.0 + climateIndex / 3.0);

For details how purchasing power (including rent) index, pollution index, property price to income ratios, cost of living index, safety index, climate index, health index and traffic index are calculated please look up their respective pages.

Formulas used in the past

Formula used between June 2017 and Decembar 2017

We decided to decrease weight from costOfLivingIndex in this formula:

index.main = Math.max(0, 100 + purchasingPowerInclRentIndex / 2.5 - (housePriceToIncomeRatio * 1.0) - costOfLivingIndex / 5 + safetyIndex / 2.0 + healthIndex / 2.5 - trafficTimeIndex / 2.0 - pollutionIndex * 2.0 / 3.0 + climateIndex / 3.0);

The World Happiness 2017, which ranks 155 countries by their happiness levels, was released at the United Nations at an event celebrating International Day of Happiness on March 20th. The report continues to gain global recognition as governments, organizations and civil society increasingly use happiness indicators to inform their policy-making decisions. Leading experts across fields – economics, psychology, survey analysis, national statistics, health, public policy and more – describe how measurements of well-being can be used effectively to assess the progress of nations. The reports review the state of happiness in the world today and show how the new science of happiness explains personal and national variations in happiness.

The scores are based on answers to the main life evaluation question asked in the poll. This question, known as the Cantril ladder, asks respondents to think of a ladder with the best possible life for them being a 10 and the worst possible life being a 0 and to rate their own current lives on that scale. The scores are from nationally representative samples for 2017 and use the Gallup weights to make the estimates representative. The columns following the happiness score estimate the extent to which each of six factors – economic production, social support, life expectancy, freedom, absence of corruption, and generosity – contribute to making life evaluations higher in each country than they are in Dystopia, a hypothetical country that has values equal to the world’s lowest national averages for each of the six factors. They have no impact on the total score reported for each country, but they do explain why some countries rank higher than others.

Quality of life index, link: https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/indices_explained.jsp

Happiness store, link: https://www.kaggle.com/unsdsn/world-happiness/home

Area Deprivation Index state score in 2020. The Area Deprivation Index (ADI) ranks neighborhoods on the basis of socioeconomic disadvantage in the areas of income, education, employment, and housing quality. Areas with greater disadvantage are ranked higher. National scores are normalized to the whole country, and state scores are normalized to a particular state. Higher Area Deprivation Index scores have been shown to correlate with worse health outcomes in measures such as life expectancy. This index was created by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison based on a methodology originally developed by the Health Resources and Services Administration. Areas on this map are ranked against other areas within the state. State scores represent deciles. In other words, they are divided into 10 groups of the same size, where 1 is the lowest rate of disadvantage and 10 is the highest.

The European Quality of Life survey (EQLS) examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens' lives, and how they feel about those circumstances, and their lives in general. It looks at a range of issues, such as employment, income, education, housing, family, health and work-life balance. It also looks at subjective topics, such as people's levels of happiness, how satisfied they are with their lives, and how they perceive the quality of their societies. The survey is carried out every four years.The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) commissioned GfK EU3C to carry out the survey. The survey was carried in the 27 European Member States (EU27), and the survey was also implemented in seven non-EU countries. The survey covers residents aged 18 and over. For the purposes of the rankings in this report, London is treated as a 35th European country.The themes covered in the analysis below are: volunteering, community relations, trust in society, public services ratings, well-being, health, wealth and poverty, housing, and skills and employment. The tables following the analysis on page 4 show figures and rankings for: London, rest of the UK, Europe average, the highest ranked country, and the lowest ranked country. Internet use data for all European NUTS1 areas included in spreadsheet. Note figures based on low sample sizes marked in pink.

Context

The County Health Rankings measure the health of all US counties and rank them within states. These ranks are estimated using composite scores from variety of health measures like quality of life, socio-economic factors, clinical care etc. The major goal of the rankings is to raise awareness about many factors that influence health and subsequently take corrective actions. A good indicator of the mortality measure for each county is YPLL (years of potential life lost) which indicates the cumulative years lost (typically calculated using predefined standards) due to premature death. Contribution to YPLL is the difference of premature deaths that are below 75 years of age as defined by the CDC. For example, if a person dies at the age of 72, then there is a contribution of 3 years towards the county YPLL. Any age of death above 75 is not counted towards YPLL as the criterion of expected age of 75 has supposedly been met.

Content

The YPLL for each 100,000 people, averaged across counties in the United States is between 8000 and 9000 depending on the year. The data file ypll.csv contains per-county YPLL’s for the United States in 2011. The attached file additional_measures.csv contains demographic measures for each US counties.

Acknowledgements

https://github.com/dataiap/dataiap/tree/master/datasets/county_health_rankings

Inspiration

Can we predict YPLL for US counties and take corrective actions?

The Social Progress Index ranks countries based on the well-being and quality of life of their citizens, considering factors such as access to education, healthcare, human rights, and environmental sustainability.

This statistic shows the results of a survey among religious groups in the United States regarding the quality of their life now and in five years from now. They were asked to rate thie life quality for both points in time on a scale from 1 (worst possible life) to 10 (best possible life). On this scale, the surveyed muslims rated their current life with 7 points and their life in five years with 8.4 points.

Real-time city rankings with political preference weighting for Ignore Politics

Live city rankings with ignore politics political preference weighting applied. Showing 1-50 of 386 cities.

This catalog record includes detailed variable-level descriptions, enabling data discovery and comparison. The data are not archived at ICPSR. Users should consult the data owners (via the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research) directly for details on obtaining the data. This collection includes variable-level metadata of Poll # 2006-PRIOR1: Priorities 1--Public Health, a survey from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation conducted by ICR-International Communications Research. Topics covered in this survey include: Rating of nation's system for protecting the public from health threats/preventing illness Diseases/health conditions posing the greatest threat to the public Most important diseases/health conditions for the government to address Quality of life in community Rating of aspects of life in community Community problems Health conditions in community Importance of action to improve nation's health The data and documentation files for this survey are available through the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research [Roper #31092314]. Frequencies and summary statistics for the 112 variables from this survey are available through the ICPSR social science variable database and can be accessed from the Variables tab.

The Nursing Homes Profiles quality data provides a consumer-friendly product that allows patients and their families to understand how the New York State Nursing Homes perform within five specific domains of care and overall. The domains (Preventive Care, Quality of Care, Quality of Life, Resident Safety and Resident Status) encompass twenty-four different quality measures. A Domain Rating assesses performance over all the measures within that domain, with 5 stars indicating the highest performance and 1 star the lowest performance. The Overall Rating is a normalized star rating based on the Nursing Homes' performance across the five domains. The normalization of the Overall Rating resets the distribution, with the highest performing Nursing Homes across all the domains having 5 stars and the lowest performing Nursing Homes across the five domains having 1 star. New York’s Nursing Home Domain Rating differs from CMS’ 5-star rating in data reporting period and in methodology.

According to the survey, as of February 2023, four out of the six countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council ranked amongst the top ** in the world for expatriate quality of life. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates topped the list for quality of life, whereas Saudi Arabia and Kuwait came last in the region. Quality of life; an amalgamation of many metrics Since quality of life is dependent on many indicators, it can give us a good insight into many aspects of state welfare policies and services. Saudi Arabia, where the number of foreign workers in the private sector topped *** million, also ranked as having one of the region's lowest quality of life for expatriates. Qatar, which had the second-highest quality of life for expatriates living in the GCC, was ranked as one of the most challenging countries in the region for ease of settling in. The UAE and Qatar, both of which ranked the highest in the survey, also have the highest average salaries and living standards in the region. Foreign workers are a key pillar of the GCC economy Countries in the GCC all have sizable expatriate populations for which their economies are heavily reliant. Roughly ********** of the workforce in the GCC is foreign. Although the share of foreign workers in the GCC has slightly decreased in recent years, they still considerably outweigh the local workforce. Most of these workers comprise the unskilled portion of the occupational category in the GCC. However, with diversifying investments and programs such as Vision 2030, countries have seen a rise in the number of skilled foreign workers.

Objectives: This study aimed to ascertain utility and vision-related quality of life in patients awaiting access to specialist eye care. A secondary aim was to evaluate the association of utility indices with demographic profile and waiting time. Methods: Consecutive patients that had been waiting for ophthalmology care answered the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25). The questionnaire was administered when patients arrived at the clinics for their first visit. We derived a utility index (VFQ-UI) from the patients’ responses, then calculated the correlation between this index and waiting time and compared utility across demographic subgroups stratified by age, sex, and care setting. Results: 536 individuals participated in the study (mean age 52.9±16.6 years; 370 women, 69% women). The median utility index was 0.85 (interquartile range [IQR] 0.70–0.92; minimum 0.40, maximum 0.97). The mean VFQ-25 score was 70.88±14.59. Utility correlated weakly and..., , , # Utility Index and Vision-Related Quality of Life in Patients Awaiting Specialist Eye Care

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h44j0zpv3

The study titled "Utility Index and Vision-Related Quality of Life in Patients Awaiting Specialist Eye Care" is a a health utility study that aims to assess the utility in individuals referred by primary care to a specialized ophthalmology service. Additionally, as a secondary objective, we aimed to investigate the relationship between waiting times, utility index, and demographic predictors influencing user perception. A total of 536 individuals participated in the study from four public health services: two in the state capital of Rio Grande do Sul (Hospital de ClÃnicas de Porto Alegre and Hospital da Restinga e Extremo Sul, both in Porto Alegre), the southernmost state of Brazil, and two in smaller inland municipalities (Outpatient Specialty Clinic and Municipal Health Foundation, both in Santa Rosa, Rio Grand...

Income-Before-Tax Time Series for Diversified Healthcare Trust. DHC is a real estate investment trust focused on owning high-quality healthcare properties located throughout the United States. DHC seeks diversification across the health services spectrum by care delivery and practice type, by scientific research disciplines and by property type and location. As of June 30, 2025, DHC's approximately $6.8 billion portfolio included 341 properties in 34 states and Washington, D.C., with more than 26,000 senior living units, approximately 7.4 million square feet of medical office and life science properties and occupied by approximately 450 tenants. DHC is managed by The RMR Group (Nasdaq: RMR), a leading U.S. alternative asset management company with approximately $40 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2025 and more than 35 years of institutional experience in buying, selling, financing and operating commercial real estate. DHC is headquartered in Newton, MA.

Context

Life expectancy at birth is a key metric reflecting the average number of years a person can expect to live from birth, considering current mortality rates. Across the globe, life expectancy varies widely due to factors such as healthcare access, socio-economic conditions, and lifestyle choices. Developed nations often boast higher life expectancies, typically ranging from 75 to 85 years, owing to advanced healthcare systems and improved living standards. In contrast, developing nations often face shorter life expectancies, frequently falling below 70 years, largely due to inadequate healthcare infrastructure and prevailing socio-economic challenges. These disparities underscore the critical importance of global efforts to enhance healthcare access and address socio-economic inequalities.

Content

This dataset comprises historical information encompassing various indicators concerning Life Expectancy at Birth on a global scale. The dataset prominently features: ISO3, Country, Continent, Hemisphere, Human Development Groups, UNDP Developing Regions, HDI Rank (2021), and Life Expectancy at Birth from 1990 to 2021.

Dataset Glossary (Column-wise)

• ISO3 - ISO3 for the Country/Territory
• Country - Name of the Country/Territory
• Continent - Name of the Continent
• Hemisphere - Name of the Hemisphere
• Human Development Groups - Human Development Groups
• UNDP Developing Regions - UNDP Developing Regions
• HDI Rank (2021) - Human Development Index Rank for 2021
• Life Expectancy at Birth from 1990 - 2021 - Life Expectancy at Birth from year 1990 to 2021 (32 Columns.)

Data Dictionary

• UNDP Developing Regions:
  • SSA - Sub-Saharan Africa
  • LAC - Latin America and the Caribbean
  • EAP - East Asia and the Pacific
  • AS - Arab States
  • ECA - Europe and Central Asia
  • SA - South Asia

Structure of the Dataset

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Acknowledgement

This Dataset is created from Human Development Reports. This Dataset falls under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO License. You can check the Terms of Use of this Data. If you want to learn more, visit the Website.

Cover Photo by: Image by Freepik

Thumbnail by: Image by Quality of life icons created by Paul J. - Flaticon

How did the City create the Equity IndexWorking with Ohio State University's Kirwan Institute of Race and Social Justice, the City complied the Equity/Opportunity Index to help facilitate data-driven decision-making processes and enable leaders to distribute resources better and plan to fund programs and services, minimize inequities and maximize opportunities.The indicators displayed in the Equity/Opportunity Index have been shown to have a direct correlation to equity. For more information, please reference the additional document on the evidence-based research determinant categories. The data is measured granularly by census block group.The list below comprise the Indicators per index: Accessibility Parks & Open SpaceVoter ParticipationHealthy Food Access IndexAverage Road QualityHome Internet AccessTransit Options & AccessVehicle AccessLivabilityTacoma Crime IndexESRI Crime IndexCost-Burdened HouseholdsAverage Life ExpectancyUrban Tree CanopyTacoma Nuisance IndexMedian Home ValueEducationAverage Student Test RateAverage Student Mobility4-Year High School Graduation RatePercent of 25+-Year-Olds with Bachelor's Degree or MoreEconomyPierce County Jobs IndexMedian Household Income200% of the Poverty line or LessUnemployment RateEnvironmental HealthEnvironmental ExposuresNOx- Diesel Emissions (Annual Tons/Km2)Ozone ConcentrationPM2.5 ConcentrationPopulations Near Heavy Traffic RoadwaysToxic Releases from Facilities (RSEI Model)Environmental EffectsLead Risk from Housing (%)Proximity to Hazardous Waste Treatment Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDFs)Proximity to National Priorities List Facilities (Superfund Sites)Proximity to Risk Management Plan (RMP) FacilitiesWastewater DischargeWhat does Very High or Very Low Equity/Opportunity mean?Very High Equity/Opportunity represents locations that have access to better opportunities to succeed and excel in life. The data indicators would include high-performing schools, a safe environment, access to adequate transportation, safe neighborhoods, and sustainable employment. In contrast, Low Equity/Opportunty areas have more obstacles and barriers within the area. These communities have limited access to institutional or societal investments with limits their quality of life.Why is the North and West End labeled Red?When looking at data related to equity and social justice, we want to be mindful not to reinforce historical representations of low-income or communities of color as bad or negative. To help visualize the areas of high opportunity and call out the need for more equity, we chose to use red. We flipped the gradient to highlight disparities within the community. Besides, we refrained from using green or positive colors with referring to dominant communities (white communities).Can I add more data and indicators to the Equity Index?Yes, by downloading the file and uploading it to ArcGIS, you can add data and indicators to the Index, and you can import the shapefiles into your database. The indicators and standard deviations are available on ArcGIS online.Can I see additional or multiple map layers?Within the left navigation panel, you can aggregate the index layers by determinate social categories; Accessibility, Education, Economy, Livability