2015 Top 100 Best Places to Live: Ranking data

NEW: See our Updated 2017 Ranking of the Best Places to Live!

As Livability’s editors and writers crisscross the U.S in search of great stories, we find that time and again, the best tales are told in the Main Street diners, corner churches, park benches and even the mayor’s offices of small to mid-sized cites and towns. Far from letting time pass them by, these communities are doubling down on livability for their residents. Our second-annual ranking of the Top 100 Best Places to Live celebrates the work they are doing. As with our Top 100 Best Place to Live 2014 ranking, we worked with globally-known partners to analyze the best public and private data sources. We were advised by the leading thinkers, writers and doers in the place-making space. Some new places make the list, some move up or down and some continue to score well, no matter what the metric. More than 2,000 cities were ranked, so every city on this list is in the top 5 percent of livable communities in the U.S. Spend some time getting to know them, and when it comes time for your next move, maybe you'll think small.

City	LivScore	Amenities	Civic	Demo.	Econ	Educat.	Health	Housing	Infrast.
Madison	705	77	65	59	61	77	78	83	65
Rochester	685	70	70	58	65	77	77	75	56
Arlington	680	76	72	73	44	88	64	60	64
Boulder	679	73	71	44	44	89	77	74	69
Palo Alto	679	86	78	73	30	70	70	62	71
Berkeley	672	78	66	81	33	78	74	51	74
Santa Clara	671	82	51	71	49	72	71	69	70
Missoula	668	69	66	46	66	64	83	77	64
Boise	665	81	62	59	56	77	72	68	55
Iowa City	665	57	73	40	59	73	84	81	64
Bozeman	664	65	82	33	62	81	81	65	62
Asheville	663	74	54	73	56	79	71	71	51
Ann Arbor	662	72	74	51	41	70	71	71	79
Bellevue	660	89	65	82	40	71	65	52	62
San Mateo	660	83	63	76	49	54	66	65	70
Santa Barbara	656	92	59	68	43	73	74	49	64
Overland Park	655	69	77	54	58	89	73	62	40
Salt Lake City	655	81	42	69	52	71	67	71	70
Rockville	655	73	80	73	55	55	64	65	59
Eugene	654	85	62	52	49	70	70	76	59
Pasadena	651	87	40	79	44	75	61	63	69
Fargo	651	62	61	58	64	69	69	86	51
Ventura	650	86	57	55	56	73	65	71	57
Fort Collins	647	83	68	49	55	82	52	72	57
Sunnyvale	645	80	64	77	46	62	53	66	67
Mountain View	645	75	72	76	49	43	61	67	73
St. Louis Park	645	57	62	61	67	74	62	74	59
Santa Monica	644	85	56	61	46	85	61	55	65
Durham	644	78	51	80	51	73	57	68	56
Ames	639	52	78	29	58	74	76	81	63
San Rafael	638	83	51	64	44	52	77	68	69
Frederick	637	65	61	71	66	70	45	74	58
Greenville	637	75	56	79	50	76	54	70	49
Lakewood	636	80	55	65	52	74	63	66	53
Provo	636	69	63	41	46	79	70	70	69
Sandy Springs	635	74	61	88	50	83	50	56	43
Quincy	634	63	55	69	54	67	71	63	64
Lincoln	634	70	46	57	67	72	65	82	49
Miami Beach	634	89	37	73	48	75	61	47	76
Cambridge	633	70	59	60	45	79	70	50	70
Sioux Falls	633	69	57	61	69	74	57	78	43
Towson	632	66	69	65	35	85	51	67	65
Tempe	632	80	41	63	54	79	64	56	67
Portland	632	54	55	44	57	75	86	53	78
Alameda	632	68	56	72	44	74	61	59	69
Renton	632	67	34	80	73	51	67	76	58
Fullerton	631	78	42	78	47	73	63	62	60
Columbia	631	68	65	54	55	74	70	72	47
Bellingham	631	74	60	52	47	68	75	63	64
Beaverton	631	74	57	62	63	66	56	70	58
Bismarck	630	63	69	64	68	62	57	76	45
Helena	630	51	85	50	62	56	65	74	61
Irvine	630	91	68	68	33	91	53	43	55
Reno	629	85	43	70	45	79	63	57	58
Olympia	629	66	70	60	53	51	58	77	68
Santa Cruz	629	79	65	48	42	53	78	62	75
West Des Moines	629	58	69	67	65	69	62	71	40
Honolulu	628	87	24	71	45	81	66	57	69
Eau Claire	628	56	67	43	71	61	75	82	49
Ashland	627	69	79	39	50	61	67	66	70
Monterey	626	83	68	72	39	62	60	49	66
Chapel Hill	624	60	76	57	35	75	70	65	59
Alexandria	624	67	68	73	54	43	60	72	61
North Bethesda	624	57	79	84	52	43	66	60	58
Cedar Rapids	623	66	67	50	67	72	60	72	46
Lexington	623	76	60	68	42	83	58	65	44
White Plains	622	66	67	70	40	60	65	60	68
Costa Mesa	622	79	42	57	58	73	70	52	66
Corvallis	621	52	80	35	47	70	77	72	63
Manhattan	621	51	73	45	57	76	70	70	54
Tampa	620	86	31	80	41	76	56	59	64
Silver Spring	620	58	52	75	61	48	61	79	62
Kirkland	619	75	63	63	49	63	68	53	61
Lawrence	619	68	66	36	62	72	64	72	56
Westminster	619	81	59	56	72	69	57	57	46
Bend	618	81	64	53	53	74	69	50	49
Redmond	618	69	64	70	50	62	66	53	60
Santa Rosa	618	86	50	63	49	44	76	65	60
Stamford	617	80	52	82	34	52	61	62	68
Goleta	617	75	73	69	62	37	67	55	56
Knoxville	617	78	47	61	47	77	63	75	43
Des Moines	614	68	30	62	68	58	71	71	63
Fayetteville	614	71	66	55	51	76	65	60	47
Denton	613	68	57	71	57	63	49	71	55
Springfield	613	74	46	54	48	72	72	73	50
Orlando	612	78	26	85	58	71	59	50	60
Menlo Park	612	68	79	71	29	52	67	52	70
Salem	611	81	44	54	54	64	60	76	55
Burbank	610	77	44	65	53	57	63	66	62
Hayward	610	74	24	77	51	56	72	64	68
Charleston	609	78	60	76	41	69	58	56	48
Richardson	609	70	59	82	54	80	28	60	54
Greensboro	609	75	44	79	52	75	52	68	41
Tysons Corner	608	48	79	81	52	64	49	54	58
La Crosse	607	50	62	39	58	53	86	71	66
Grand Rapids	607	67	34	64	54	70	65	58	72
Framingham	607	62	49	68	57	62	66	71	50
Billings	606	69	55	55	66	55	58	79	50
Brookline	606	65	80	65	30	71	70	38	63
Coral Gables	606	87	62	75	31	68	51	49	59