This paper explores the relationship between quality-of-life differentials and housing values in the run-up to the 2007 Great Recession in the United States. The analysis combines older spatial demographic methods (systematic mapping) with newer spatial econometric methods (autoregressive modeling) to deliver a panoramic view of the plane of living at the time and an evaluation of its influence on housing values through time and across geographic space. The author argues that natural amenities are growing more powerful but human amenities offer important opportunities to address market conditions because they can more readily be enhanced via public policy. In concluding they offer several general observations for public policy to follow from their findings.