Seattle ranked best city to live in U.S. — right as tech leaders threaten to leave over taxes

It feels like every couple of days I stop in my tracks somewhere in Seattle and find myself questioning why on earth I’d want to live anywhere else.

It also seems like I read every few days — on GeekWire — about the next young startup founder who is ditching Seattle for San Francisco to chase AI riches. Or about a venture capitalist who thinks city taxes or the threat of new ones from the state are enough reason to pack up and bolt.

Do any of these people realize how good we have it in the best place to live in the U.S.?

Don’t choke on your latte while considering your next argument about the “millionaires tax.” That’s not my claim alone. Travel & Leisure magazine is making that statement, thanks to a study by digital entertainment platform JB, which also found Seattle to to be one of the top 10 cities in the world, alongside dreamy destinations such as Zurich, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and so on.

The study analyzed 45 cities worldwide, evaluating each on six core features: overall quality of life, safety, healthcare access, air pollution levels, unemployment rates, and monthly disposable income. Boston was the only other U.S. city to make the top 10.

T&L reports that Seattle’s high ranking reflects a combination of “excellent healthcare, a high quality of life, and the second-highest disposable income in the top 10,” which it says ultimately, helped Seattle outperform larger, more expensive urban areas.

Don’t forget how our easy access to the outdoors benefits mental and physical health, or how an economy centered on tech, healthcare, and education “provides stability and supports long-term investment in healthcare and environmental standards,” T&L said.

But for months I’ve been reading about how it’s all worth ditching if I’m a rich person, a tech giant, a startup founder, an AI dreamer or just about anyone else who is against new taxes.

Just this week, tech leaders warned again how a new income tax proposal could stall the region’s momentum in artificial intelligence. There are mounting fears of damage to the innovation economy! Higher taxes on top earners will trigger an existential threat to the startup economy! People will leave!

And what, move to Florida?

Many, many people in Seattle are from somewhere else, me included. And certainly there are plenty of desirable places to live in the U.S. and beyond, for a variety of reasons, regardless of whether you can’t handle the rain or the taxes here.

And Seattle has plenty of problems that will make residents and visitors alike scoff at such a ranking.

But it’s rankings like this one that should at least be considered when Microsoft or Amazon or any other company or its leaders beat the drum of how they might have to leave rather than pay more to be here.

Where do you go when you leave the best place to live?