Multidimensional quality-of-life measure with an application to Fortune's best cities

The notion of the quality of life is about a finite set of measurable attributes that can be weighted by some metric. The quality of life has subjective as well as objective dimensions. Single dimension measures now are recognized as too narrow to fully capture differences in the quality of life. Based upon data envelopment analysis (DEA), the current paper demonstrates how to develop a multidimensional measure to characterize the quality of life and identify its best-practice frontier which balances work and family life and judges practical comfort. Benchmarks are introduced into DEA models to implicitly reflect tradeoff information on quality-of-life related factors and to incorporate evaluation standards. A method is proposed to determine the unique best quality-of-life scale target. Critical quality-of-life factors are identified in a multidimensional construct. Fortune magazine's choice of the 20 best cities—15 domestic and five international—is investigated.