Livability’s quest
What makes a city truly livable? This is a question that Livability.com has set out to answer.
Besides creating helpful rankings, like the Top 50 Best cities for Entrepreneurs or the Top 10 Best Cities for Families, the site has recently published their master list, the 2017 Top 100 Best Places to Live.
Data, data, and more data
Combining data from a number of public and private sources, the Livability.com research team analyzed over 2,100 small to mid-sized cities with populations between 20,000 and 350,000.
Cities were scored in the categories of economics, housing, amenities, infrastructure, demographics social and civic capital, education, and health care to come up with the most “livable” cities in the country.
College towns take the cake
College towns, with their diverse cultural offerings for both intellectuals and football fans alike, stack the upper rankings, and include Iowa City (home to the University of Iowa and Kirkwood Community College), Ann Arbor (home to the University of Michigan), Charlottesville (home to the University of Virginia), and Madison (home to the University of Wisconsin).
Besides great academic institutions, the #4 ranked city of Olympia, the capital of Washington, also offers proximity to many beautiful natural places and outdoor recreational activities.
Also in Washington, Bellevue, having derived its name from the French for “beautiful view,” ranks at number 6.
Job opportunity helps
Cities with thriving industries naturally offer economic opportunities to their residents.
This includes the #7 ranking city, Palo Alto, in the heart of the Silicon Valley and home to many successful tech companies.
Similarly, the #13 ranking city of Rockville, Maryland, is on the I-270 Technology Corridor, host to several software firms, as well as biotech companies and government agencies.
Top 20
While we’ve outlined the two main groups of top rankings here’s a list of the top 20 cities:
- Rochester, MN
- Iowa City, IA
- Ann Arbor, MI
- Olympia, WA
- Charlottesville, VA
- Bellevue, WA
- Palo Alto, CA
- Madison, WI
- Overland Park, KS
- Bismarck, ND
- Burlington, VT
- Newton, MA
- Rockville, MD
- Ithaca, NY
- Franklin, TN
- Fort Collins, CO
- Pleasanton, CA
- Columbia, MD
- Arlington, VA
- Pittsburgh, PA
You can’t lose
“This year’s Top 100 Best Places to Live list includes many first-time cities,” says Livability.com’s Becky Henson.
[clickToTweet tweet=”“The fact is that each one of these cities on the list are a best place to live.’- Livability” quote=”“The fact is that each one of these cities on the list are a best place to live. Our data experts scoured thousands of cities and data points to build a list that truly encompasses the things that make a place idea.””]
To see the entire list of Top 100 Best Place to Live, visit Livability.com.
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