The empirical results of a 1970 study designed to assess the quality of life in 243 metropolitan areas are provided in this booklet. The quality of life components include 123 variables related to overall economic, political, environmental, health and education, and social conditions. The booklet is divided into five sections which explain the quality of life components and provide the results from large, medium, and small metropolitan areas across the country. The final section offers concluding remarks. The results indicate that the west coast, east north-central, mountain, and New England regions had relatively more metropolitan areas with outstanding or excellent quality-of-life ratings. In contrast, the southern states showed a relatively larger number of low-rated metropolitan areas, although they do have several areas with high ratings. The most outstanding large metropolitan areas were in the Pacific and northern regions, while the most outstanding middle-sized metropolitan areas were in the east and north-central regions. The most outstanding small metropolitan areas were in the east north-central region. (DE)