I think its worth taking a look at how this index is calculated: https://www.numbeo.com/property-investment/indicators_explained.jsp This is taken from an investment rather than housing standpoint. The US is great for people who invest in housing as landlords, not so much for those that must rent from them. One of the measures in your index is rental profitability, which is great for some and terrible for many. Our rental situation also varies dramatically in different regions. I live in California, where it is very bad. No prospect for home ownership unless you are very wealthy, and insane rent (most of our exploding homeless population is local people priced out of the market). Also note that the average wage in the united states is significantly higher than the median wage. This is because the US has fairly high inequality for a western country and we have a lot of crazy rich people who act as outliers. This does not make life better for working Americans.

It’s way better than living in many post colonial states, but a lot of countries such as France or Germany or Sweden or Denmark simply have a staggeringly higher quality of life for working class people, and the quality of life for working class Americans has also been diving downhill in recent years due to a number of developing crises. Median wage has shot down, even as inflation has spiked. Our hospitals are critically understaffed, and medical debt has exploded.

You mentioned you were from the UK, and you have my sympathy. It sounds like the UK is also suffering from similar crises, but to a greater degree, especially this past winter. I don’t doubt that it may currently be rougher in many ways for the average working class Brit than the average working class American. Though I still envy the NHS.