Norway can not be compared to the U.S. They only have 5 million people — most of whom are civilized, all of their electricity is hydroelectric, and they are flush with government-owned petroleum.
If you were to compare Norway to the U.S., you’d want to consider how huge we are. Size matters when we are talking about nations. If you wanted to consider quality of life independent of whether you are a citizen of the only super-power in the world, it might be fairer to compare our states to the nations of Europe.