Top 100 Best Places to Live in the U.S.
2023 marks Livability.com’s 10th year helping you
discover the Best Places to Live in America.
VIEW THE LIST By Livability.com on June 14, 2023
At Livability, we love small and mid-sized cities — the crowd-pleasing, best places to live that leave you with money left over after paying your rent or mortgage. Speaking of mortgages, you might actually be able to get one of those without breaking the bank.
For 10 years now, Livability editors have combined our love of places with data to create our annual list of the Top 100 Best Places To Live in the U.S. Today, we’re not the only best places list out there — great content from our peers at U.S. News & World Report and Resonance also spotlight some amazing U.S. cities, but we take an approach no one else does.
Why Livability’s Top 100 Is Unique
We consider only cities with a population between 75,000 and 500,000 — no NYC or L.A. adulation here. Not because those cities aren’t incredible but because we’re all familiar with their advantages and disadvantages, and we also know that our biggest cities continue to see a significant exodus. Where should those relocators head next? Well, we have some ideas — our list of the Best Places To Live in the U.S. recognizes the unsung (or at least, less-sung) awesomeness of the many places outside of our largest metros — the cities where most Americans create dream careers, build families, launch businesses and lead meaningful lives.
Where are the best cities in America to create a life you love, even if you’re an average earner? Our list’s second big differentiator is affordability. We take it seriously: Only cities with a median home value of $500,000 or less have a shot at making our best places list. As home prices hit historical highs and inflation continues to rise, we laud the cities that are growing wages and home values while maintaining an affordable cost of living, including reasonable rent and home prices relative to local income.
How We Chose Our Top 100 Cities
We partnered with Applied Geographic Solutions (AGS) to select our Top 100 Best Places To Live in the U.S. in 2023. Together we curated our cities based on nearly 100 data points and an algorithm taking into account measures of a city’s economy, housing and cost of living, amenities, transportation, environment, safety, education and health. To learn more about how we chose the Top 100 cities, check out the Livability Top 100 Methodology.
New Sorting, Filtering Options Help You Find the Best Cities To Live In
Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to where to live, which is why we reformatted our 10th anniversary Best Places To Live list as an interactive tool that allows you to prioritize what’s most important to you — from amenities to top-rated schools to a new-to-you place that’s not too far from your family. Looking for a place with great health outcomes? Check out the health filter. Care most about safety? There’s a filter for that.
Our filters empower you to sort the list according to each city’s performance across eight data categories: economy, housing and cost of living, amenities, transportation, environment, safety, education and health. You can prioritize which of these criteria are most important and indicate your preferred home pricing, population size and region of the country to create a personalized Top 100 Best Places To Live.
The Only Thing Missing? You.
Aside from the stats, our list answers other questions about what makes these 100 places special. Where can you spend a Saturday or meet your friends for happy hour after a long day? What’s the weather like? What about the local economy and taxes? How is this city different from other places?
If you’re looking for a fresh start, sick of insane rent and want to find a community that’s just the right fit, this list is for you. These 100 cities are welcoming, affordable and offer the space and opportunity to grow.
Editing by Cara Sanders, Managing Editor & Director of Digital Marketing. Contributing Writers: Brittany Anas, Jamie Birdwell-Branson, Kathy Bradshaw, Wesley Broome, Dana Getz, Nicole Haase, Michele Herrmann, Patricia Kaowthumrong and Cara Sanders. Other Contributors: Cathy Atlas, Amanda Ellis, Misty Emery, Julia van Hooser, Sarah Henderson, Branham Maddox, Eric Montzka, Richard Stevens and Jessy Yancey.
Explore Our Best Places to Live in the U.S.
Sort the list by these categories.
- Liv Score
- Amenities
- Economy
- Education
- Environment
- Health
- Housing & Cost of Living
- Safety
- Transportation