I went the other way a few weeks ago. Helping my mom and sister in Houston get my mom's house back in order after years of no maintenance. After 2+ years of not being in the US due to Covid, the differences you noted were all there for me.

I definitely noticed the trash thing. There is so much trash in the US. Yes, people "recycle" but the fact that everything comes packaged in 16 layers of carboard, plastic, and wire twist ties is insane (note this has caught on a lot in Western Europe with globalization, less so in Central and Eastern Europe).

What I also noted was water quality (particularly big difference between Houston and Vienna).... and transportation.

I know Houston is an outlier even in the US. I remember being a teenager in Houston before I had a car and realizing I could not get anywhere without a car, and getting anywhere takes friggin' forever even with a car.

Example: I replaced a kitchen faucet at mom's house. I took the old one with to make sure everything would fit. I wasn't sure if there are industry size norms in the US for that kind of thing. We wouldn't want the government to make our lives easy now would we!? Anyway, everything with the new faucet fit, but it turns out I needed a tiny hose clamp (not mentioned in the required parts and tools for the new faucet). My mom cleaned out her garage years ago after my father died, including his collection of thousands of little hardware items like hose clamps.

So instead of a 5 meter walk to the garage, it took 20-25 minutes to drive to the big box hardware supply store, 20-25 minutes to navigate the giant place to find and buy a hose clamp, and then 20-25 minutes to drive home. Over an hour to get a hose clamp, and there is no way I could have done it without a car. I bought four clamps just in case, as I would have gone ballistic if I had needed a second clamp for whatever reason.

I was very happy to return to Vienna. Clean water. Clean air. Less trash. Streetcar outside my door. Subway 80 meters away. Train station blocks away. Little hardware store 30 meters away across the street, run by the owner for decades. I've been back for several weeks and have yet to drive my car.