There is widespread perception that rule of law has failed at the top levels at least - with politically motivated prosecutions (timing of stacked Trump indictments is clearly motivated by his candidacy)

is it clearly motivated by trump's candidacy? he officially announced in november 2022, he was dropping un-subtle hints about running for 2 years, and he started his 2020 campaign on inauguration day, 2017. maybe the timing of indictments was motivated by the republican primaries, but election season is 2 out of 4 years.

nit-picking aside, i agree with you and OP. not sure why other people are so confident in US stability when political and cultural health are obviously declining

if anyone else is early, i'm the guy in the fire truck red jacket!

nitpick: the chart describing mosquito prevalence indicates that minnesota is mosquito-free, which i can tell you is blatantly untrue (although it probably is true that bellingham, WA has fairly few mosquitos). this may be because those 2 mosquito species are not one of minnesota's problem species, but still, skepticism is warranted. minnesota summers have a shitton of mosquitos.

i would give a nomination for minneapolis, minnesota, although if a major criterion is "local culture and politics", i'm not sure how much to weight e.g. george floyd riots. i can speak a lot to the perks of growing up there, but less about the current environment since i moved away 6 years ago.

another city to consider: portland maine. i was very impressed by the walkability and vibe when i visited, although it may be too cold in the winter, if that is a major concern.