Data-Driven List Curates the Best Small to Mid-Sized Cities with Personalization in Mind

Livability.com announces the release of its 10th annual Top 100 Best Places to Live list celebrating the best small and mid-sized communities across the U.S. The list is based on extensive research into relocation trends, economic variables and factors that influence quality of life.

Excellent health care is one of many reasons Virginia Beach is one of the best places to live in the U.S. In addition, good schools, a highly educated workforce and an economy powered by a variety of diverse industries add to the quality of life. Virginia Beach is the only Virginia city on the list.

Find out more about why Virginia Beach made the list here: https://livability.com/best-places/2023-top-100-best-places-to-live-in-the-us/virginia-beach-va

This year’s list is the most interactive to date, with a variety of filters that elevate user experience by tailoring the ranking to reflect specific priorities when it comes to choosing a place to live.

“There’s no one size fits all when it comes to finding the right place to live, and we want our ranking to help you find your best place,” says Amanda Ellis, Livability.com Editor-in-Chief. “That’s why this year’s list is not a ranking telling you the No. 1 to No. 100 best places to live in America. Instead, we’re leaving it up to each individual to filter and rank the categories that mean the most to them for a personalized top 100 ranking of the best places to live.”

Livability.com partnered with Applied Geographic Solutions (AGS) to curate the Top 100 Best Places to Live list based on roughly 100 data points measuring the economy, housing and cost of living, amenities, transportation, environment, safety, education and health. Users can prioritize which criteria are most important to them and indicate their preferred region, home pricing and population size to create their personalized Top 100 Best Places to Live.

Livability and AGS collected data for more than 2,000 U.S. cities with populations between 75,000 and 500,000, using a weighted algorithm to select the 100 best places to live. That algorithm also factored in additional affordability criteria based on an analysis of average rents and home prices relative to local income. The resulting list of 100 places represents the top 5% of U.S. cities with populations in the studied range.

“What’s truly unique about our annual Top 100 is its consistent emphasis on affordability and the small to mid-sized cities best positioned to offer reasonable costs relative to their location,” Ellis says. “Our Top 100 Best Places to Live celebrates places where you can still live a little after covering the costs of essentials like housing and transportation, where middle-income earners have a good shot at owning a home and where you can live the life and career you want.”

Per Livability’s emphasis on affordability, only cities with a median home value of $500,000 or less were included in the final Top 100 Best Places to Live. Read more about the list’s methodology here.

The complete selection of the 2023 Top 100 Best Places to Live is featured on Livability.com, along with filters to create your personalized Top 100 list and detailed articles about what makes each city an exceptional place to live. A complete toolkit, including a personalized badge and other media assets, is available here: https://livability.com/2023-top-100-best-places-to-live-toolkit/

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact:

Amanda Ellis, Editor-in-Chief, Livability.com

aellis@livability.com

or

Cara Sanders, Managing Editor, Livability.com

csanders@livability.com