Like many typical Austrians/Viennese I've got a love/hate relationship with Austria/Vienna.

On the one hand it's very gemütlich (cosy/comfy -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemütlichkeit) to live here but on the other hand it can be quite boring as even very young people often act like they are already retired. I believe there aren't many places in the world where you enjoy as much actual freedom as you do in Austria but people mostly don't make much use of it, good luck with getting people engaged in anything interesting (maybe life here is already too comfortable).

Not having the cultural "baggage" of having gotten pampered your whole life, Vienna could very well be the ideal place to be as you might be able to actually enjoy its benefits.

You should definitely come and visit, there is tons of stuff to see - it's somewhat of a cultural Disney Land with an amazing history. While doing so you could dip your toes into what it would mean to live here, there are quite some Americans around who really like it and have been living here for many years.

In general it's quite nice. As a viennese native living abroad, i especially miss the public transport system and some of the theaters. Vienna also has far less social segregation than other cities of it's size (~2M), looks extremely clean is quite safe. Do you have any more specific questions? You can post them here or contact me per jabber/email (in my profile) if you want.

Granted, I visited for a couple of days, but I was positively and deeply surprised by it.

Everything seems nice. The city is Beautiful. Public trams go everywhere and the transport system is top notch.

Cons: they speak "Bavarian German" and they seem to be paranoid about the internet (more than in Germany). They have cold winters as well if I'm not mistaken.

the good thing about vienna (or maybe austria) is that it's the biggests city in austria.

if something interesting is going on in austria, most often it's happening in vienna. (culturally, jobwise, universitywise,...). so austria is very centered around vienna in my experience.

Vienna is nice IF you speak German sufficiently well to get along with the Austrian dialect and you are willing to cope with those four months of harsh winter where you hardly ever see the sun.

Apart of that it's pretty much like every other German speaking city, quality of life is high, but so are the taxes.