(CNN) -- For nearly 20 years, Bert Sperling has been analyzing data about people and places. He helps people decide which city is good for them and the factors they need to consider. Sperling spoke to CNN Business Traveller on super-commuting and the pursuit for quality of life.
What constitutes a good place to work, and what attributes does a place have to have?
The best place to work is where your job is. If you are lucky enough to choose where you can work then you would want to be able to live nearby or have some affordable place to live and a wonderful quality of life. But a lot of us cannot choose exactly where we live unfortunately and where we work. That is why we are also going to have to commute somewhere else and live quite far away sometimes.
Conversely, what are the attributes that constitute a great lifestyle?
Quality of life means different things to different people. At different points in your life it can make quite a difference. If you are a young professional just starting out you will want to go where you can make a mark in your career, and where you can make great contacts that will last the rest of your life.
If you are somewhat older and you have already established yourself you can go ahead and fit into a boutique firm and perhaps start your own business and hire others because of your reputation. You are going to be looking at the kind of community you want to live in. You are going to have to look at the crime rate. The climate is going to be very important. The cost of living is going to be paramount. If you have school age children, this is going to be a key thing also. Other things like recreation and leisure activities also feature -- so it is the whole package. What is important to you is who you are and where you are in your life.
Can you see that a super-commuting lifestyle can make sense at all, in order to get the best of both worlds?
Absolutely, it makes sense and it is a marvelous opportunity to be able to do that. If a person is lucky enough to have that kind of lifestyle where they can work one place and live another, this is a wonderful thing. Of course there are stresses. You will probably have to be away from your other home or your family for a while, but it might be best for them. On the other hand you are bound to get a lot of work done when you are at your work place without worrying about home.
In terms of satisfaction and productivity, how does the city you live in play on all other aspects of your life in terms of contentment and happiness?
Your quality of life has to do with where you live and what you make of it and also what it is that you like to do. It may be very important for you to live an outdoor lifestyle and therefore you need to live somewhere that is close enough. In some places within a couple of hours you can be at the ocean, another hour or two you can be in the mountains skiing
The cost of living is very important. In some cities many people cannot afford the rates, especially if it's a very desirable place to live and part of that is because it's so desirable. Many places that are so desirable have a high cost of living.
Why do people relocate?
Some of the larger cities have become so populated - it is simply very difficult to go ahead and have a great quality of life. You have to travel far out of town or far into town to enjoy either a quality of life or to be able to work in the city.
Instead of a two-hour commute via your automobile, why not hop on a plane? Two hours later you are far away with a completely different lifestyle or a completely different country, the quality of living might be higher and the cost of living might be much lower, and you might have something much more affordable. It might be a tremendous exciting adventure -- we just hope the airfares stay quite low.
Going back to the family, what should people consider for their families in terms of choosing the right city?
When you have a family it adds a whole other dimension. You have to think about your spouse and significant other or your children and that becomes quite key. You have to really listen to your family and find out what is important to them and when you get there do not be afraid to change. For example, you might be more comfortable in an enclave of fellow expatriates who have your way of thinking and you are comfortable with. On the other hand you might feel most comfortable living with some of the locals and getting to know them. It is not only up to you. You might be a very open person who is willing to share -- but the locals may or may not be that way.
Why is it so difficult to find a good work-life balance in cities such as London, Tokyo or New York?
It is difficult for large cities that are a tremendous hub for commerce. Everybody is totally focused on their own living, their commerce and everything they are doing. When you cram all those people and all those things together it pushes out almost everything else that is not orientated towards commerce. Quality of life just naturally suffers simply because of the crowds of people.
So you have to go further away from these places to get a decent quality of life and those rare places, which are nearby are tremendously high priced. Only the extremely wealthy can afford those special spots that have a high quality of life and are near those metro areas.
How about relocating to a small town?
Well if you go ahead and move to a small spot nearby you are going to have a problem with commuting. You are either going to be on the highway with thousands of other cars trying to go the same place or you are going to be an hour or two hours away at a small community that tends not to stay that way -- it quickly grows up and has its own problems if it is close enough for people to commute. These communities are difficult to find and if you do find them the prices are very high. Sometimes people go ahead and say why not break away from this system -- why not fly somewhere two hours away instead of drive two hours away?
What should one look for in terms of cost of living?
The cost of living has become very important and as prices rise -- which they will -- it will become more important. Housing has to be the most important factor, taxes are crucial as well; healthcare has also become an issue, as well as childcare.
Tell me more about change?
Things are changing at an unprecedented rate now. Places that you might never have considered as a place to live are, not only an option, but highly desirable. It is always good to take a trip somewhere and spend perhaps a week or so to get to know an area -- to know the different neighborhoods. If you are thinking of going to live somewhere do not be afraid to be on the cutting edge -- just realize that you might want to go ahead and re-think that in a year or so, that is fine. You can always go ahead and change. It is a wonderful world out there and there are certainly a lot of opportunities.
CNN's Shantelle Stein and Rosalind Chin contributed to this report
