2018 Top 100 Best Places to Live: Ranking Data

What makes a great place to live and how do we decide that? For starters, we don’t decide.

You do.

We poll the nation each year to find out what matters most in communities throughout the U.S. Is health care most important, or affordable housing? Which matters more, commute times or climate? We then source the best public and private data available to find the small to mid-sized cities, towns and villages that meet your standards of a Best Place to Live.

This year, nearly 2,300 cities were ranked on more than 40 data points measuring economics, housing, amenities, infrastructure, demographics, social and civic capital, education and health care.

City	LivScore	Amenities	Civic	Demo.	Econ	Educat.	Health	Housing	Infrast.
Ann Arbor	694	82	86	51	64	89	77	58	45
Manhattan	693	67	66	40	80	85	71	83	54
Corvallis	689	70	80	36	71	77	78	72	59
Iowa City	688	61	80	47	76	58	84	78	54
Charlottesville	687	73	77	56	72	63	71	70	60
Madison	674	65	74	46	74	69	85	61	56
Palo Alto	674	71	90	63	52	93	80	44	51
Santa Cruz	669	71	71	50	65	75	82	66	50
Rochester	666	68	74	52	63	75	84	63	48
Bellevue	666	63	79	66	53	78	74	62	62
Overland Park	666	68	83	52	59	94	84	52	37
Cambridge	665	60	72	65	73	82	82	40	56
Berkeley	664	70	71	61	64	92	74	44	57
Fort Collins	664	80	78	36	67	79	72	67	45
Irvine	664	62	84	64	52	96	76	50	52
Boulder	663	69	82	40	72	86	73	57	44
San Luis Obispo	662	61	71	38	69	86	75	69	54
Davis	661	55	83	52	72	83	79	55	44
Lincoln	660	71	63	45	70	72	67	80	54
Evanston	660	71	82	65	65	86	62	52	47
Columbia	658	66	66	42	82	77	67	69	49
Chapel Hill	656	60	85	48	74	79	73	55	45
Lawrence	654	66	70	40	74	79	66	77	44
Burlington	654	47	72	36	74	76	81	64	65
Pullman	654	60	70	45	74	78	65	66	60
San Rafael	653	71	64	63	69	69	78	56	46
Charleston	653	72	74	44	70	82	65	64	46
Eugene	652	80	67	39	67	77	59	75	54
San Mateo	651	71	73	71	55	73	73	53	55
Santa Barbara	651	78	63	59	67	80	70	46	57
Bloomington	649	72	74	38	62	68	61	81	59
East Lansing	647	54	81	43	60	86	46	79	70
Newton	647	56	98	57	58	91	76	35	49
Pittsburgh	647	79	60	48	70	73	69	52	63
Arlington	643	74	79	62	51	82	75	51	42
Asheville	643	64	62	54	66	72	59	72	65
Ithaca	641	62	55	55	58	81	69	70	66
Gainesville	641	56	69	45	67	79	59	75	61
Greenville	639	67	56	55	71	70	54	78	55
Kirkland	637	53	78	55	48	84	76	63	56
College Station	637	53	80	48	73	76	62	62	50
Littleton	637	69	77	49	64	80	53	70	44
Morgantown	636	74	57	36	62	74	65	78	59
Brookline	636	51	91	54	62	93	69	40	50
Boca Raton	633	63	82	62	58	89	58	46	53
Downers Grove	632	57	88	43	54	79	75	61	45
Scottsdale	631	76	83	46	61	86	68	38	46
Wheaton	631	62	94	45	57	81	64	53	47
Ashland	630	58	66	37	69	80	62	74	53
Lexington	628	77	59	44	65	79	64	58	54
Alameda	627	59	67	71	56	78	71	47	55
State College	627	67	59	49	62	62	66	71	63
Ames	627	51	81	40	63	77	66	70	48
West Lafayette	626	59	63	47	63	75	51	85	57
Moscow	624	72	66	31	62	77	67	61	58
Johnson City	623	58	62	34	81	77	55	77	43
Olympia	622	55	67	46	57	79	69	76	44
Walnut Creek	622	60	81	60	58	64	77	47	48
Edina	622	55	91	50	59	65	75	50	48
Missoula	622	70	51	25	70	69	70	74	59
Tallahassee	622	76	62	44	62	81	49	72	49
Elmhurst	620	53	92	40	46	83	75	61	44
Blacksburg	620	56	70	35	61	86	61	68	57
Sioux Falls	619	73	39	47	73	69	69	72	47
Redwood City	619	62	53	65	63	63	76	56	57
Santa Monica	619	54	72	59	60	89	69	37	60
West Hartford	619	70	85	55	67	81	58	46	32
Coral Gables	619	54	79	62	62	73	62	52	50
Champaign	618	66	71	55	56	73	47	73	55
Pasadena	618	67	59	73	62	64	56	58	58
Laramie	618	64	69	27	62	71	50	83	64
Burlingame	618	64	64	58	71	63	75	41	53
Bellingham	617	68	45	37	56	73	68	76	67
Oxford	615	48	59	34	77	73	42	77	78
Provo	615	53	69	37	65	66	51	83	63
Fargo	615	59	47	38	80	60	71	77	46
Novato	614	57	83	50	61	52	82	54	43
Bismarck	614	58	51	39	74	69	71	75	43
Grand Forks	614	53	58	33	85	58	67	79	42
Brookings	613	57	67	25	75	74	58	70	56
Rockville	613	75	69	76	44	78	71	46	37
Newport Beach	612	62	87	51	53	62	77	46	49
Huntington Beach	610	64	76	58	53	75	73	43	46
Sarasota	609	68	37	70	63	72	61	63	54
Mountain View	609	56	74	64	58	62	75	45	51
Framingham	609	52	69	64	57	65	71	58	48
Miami Beach	608	54	52	64	80	68	44	63	60
Boise	607	70	73	42	52	76	62	56	54
Portland	607	43	70	43	76	60	79	44	63
Salt Lake City	606	69	54	45	69	66	56	64	57
Cincinnati	606	76	51	52	67	60	53	51	76
Auburn	605	59	76	44	70	83	35	67	47
Fullerton	605	64	44	68	53	82	66	60	51
Naperville	605	76	92	48	37	82	75	36	40
Franklin	604	59	89	49	54	90	72	36	33
Bozeman	603	61	76	27	72	76	64	45	55
Lakewood	603	71	56	54	62	67	62	67	40
White Plains	602	55	69	75	64	45	61	50	62
Redmond	602	55	75	56	47	64	67	58	61
Oak Park	602	64	83	57	61	62	63	43	47