Winston-Salem ranked  among top 50 cities world-wide in quality of  life The 2005 international rankings for  quality of life by Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranked Winston- Salem in the top 50.The company placed Winston-Salem in a tie for 46th place with Lexington, Ky.;  Osaka, Japan; Pittsburgh; and Seattle. Mercer based its rankings on detailed  assessments and evaluations of 39  key measures of quality of life in the  following categories: Political and social environment, economic environment, socio-cultural environment, medical and health considerations; schools and education; public services and transportation; recreation; consumer  goods; housing; and natural environment. Cities are ranked against New York as the base city, which has a rating of 100. Winston-Salem scored 98.5. Geneva and Zurich, Switzerland, tied for first at 106.5. San Francisco and Honolulu tied with four other cities for 25th place and were the highest-ranking cities in the United States. The analysis was part of a world-wide quality of life survey, covering 215 cities, to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments. Data was largely collected between September and November 2004        King   Lewisville   Tobaccoville   Clemmons   Mount Airy   Kernersville   Rural Hall   Pfafftown