Best Cities to Live in the U.S. 2026-2027
Built for people still choosing where to live, this tool ranks the larger U.S. cities, at least 100,000 residents or a metro anchor, on 40 measures of daily life, weighted by common importance until you set your own. No other ranking runs on this much data or lets you re-weight all of it; the full methodology covers how each measure is built. If you have already picked your city, the best neighborhoods pages map every preference down to the block for free.
Cary, NC
- #30 crime safety
- #4 cost of living vs income
- #7 school grade
- #324 walkability
- #440 nice weather
- #153 short commute
Highlands Ranch, CO
- #39 crime safety
- #3 cost of living vs income
- #62 school grade
- #369 walkability
- #122 nice weather
- #215 short commute
Fairfax, VA
- #5 crime safety
- #40 cost of living vs income
- #6 school grade
- #160 walkability
- #412 nice weather
- #334 short commute
Arlington, VA
- #125 crime safety
- #62 cost of living vs income
- #10 school grade
- #23 walkability
- #394 nice weather
- #274 short commute
Frisco, TX
- #93 crime safety
- #2 cost of living vs income
- #16 school grade
- #371 walkability
- #97 nice weather
- #338 short commute
Bellevue, WA
- #208 crime safety
- #35 cost of living vs income
- #17 school grade
- #91 walkability
- #124 nice weather
- #186 short commute
Sunnyvale, CA
- #27 crime safety
- #79 cost of living vs income
- #36 school grade
- #78 walkability
- #36 nice weather
- #167 short commute
West Chester, PA
- #36 crime safety
- #29 cost of living vs income
- #1 school grade
- #293 walkability
- #229 nice weather
- #237 short commute
Meridian, ID
- #1 crime safety
- #52 cost of living vs income
- #61 school grade
- #368 walkability
- #191 nice weather
- #135 short commute
Santa Clara, CA
- #14 crime safety
- #60 cost of living vs income
- #88 school grade
- #59 walkability
- #66 nice weather
- #154 short commute
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How the ranking works
Each place is scored on 40 measures, from crime cost and school grades to commute time, air quality, taxes, and what local pay buys after the cost of living. Scores are absolute, not curved: a 60 for schools means the same real thing in every place, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. A measure with no data for a place is left out and the remaining weights are rebalanced, so a gap never counts as a zero.
The default order uses a general-purpose weighting. It is a starting point, not a verdict. Move any measure up or down in and every tier re-sorts to your priorities. Read how each measure is built, source by source, in the methodology.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.