The USA is hard to gauge because its much bigger and more diverse. Housing affordability, access to nature etc all vary heaps by region. Culturally Australia has the most in common with the USA, although the general populace in the USA seem less apathetic about politics.

The Netherlands has rubbish weather for 2/3rds of the year and not a single mountain/hill/beach worth mentioning, but is extremely liveable. Income/CoL ratios tend to be higher than the Bay Area for a given quality-of-life, although you might be earning less in absolute terms. Cities and Towns are very well designed, even Amsterdam (outside the center) feels like a cosy village but you still get access to big-city things. Probably more socialist than NZ, with things like this happening https://nltimes.nl/2021/09/02/dutch-cities-want-ban-property...

Americans like to say that they are "free" but there are so many religious crazies.

Ultimately I can't live in a country where people are religious so that leaves only North Europe and the Netherlands is the most antichrist of them all.