Curious how you'd rank the 8 cities

Ooo that's a fun one. Sydney is an easy "all around" winner, but it really depends what stage of life you're in and how important career is. If you're career-oriented, then the list is:

Seattle > San Francisco > San Diego > Sydney > San Jose > LA > Honolulu > Portland

For your average person though who's prioritizing overall quality of life, the list would be:

Sydney > San Diego > Portland > Honolulu > Seattle > San Francisco > San Jose > LA

Each city has something distinct to offer, but I will say that LA was among my least favorite cities to live in. It's just a worse version of San Diego.