The standard revealed-preference estimate of a city's quality of life is proportional to that city's cost-of-living
relative to its wage-level. Adjusting estimates to account for federal taxes, non-housing costs, and
non-labor income produces more plausible quality-of-life estimates than in the previous literature.
Unlike previous estimates, adjusted quality-of-life measures successfully predict how housing costs
rise with wage levels, are positively correlated with popular "livability" rankings and stated preferences,
and do not decrease with city size. Mild seasons, sunshine, hills, and coastal proximity account for
most inter-metropolitan quality-of-life differences. Amendments to quality-of-life measures for labor-market
disequilibrium and household heterogeneity provide additional insights.