Best Places to Live in the U.S. 2026-2027
Built for people still choosing where to live, this tool ranks every U.S. metro area 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.
San Jose, CA
- #94 crime safety
- #71 cost of living vs income
- #47 school grade
- #6 walkability
- #6 nice weather
- #326 short commute
Portland, ME
- #10 crime safety
- #98 cost of living vs income
- #2 school grade
- #200 walkability
- #307 nice weather
- #283 short commute
Raleigh, NC
- #142 crime safety
- #3 cost of living vs income
- #22 school grade
- #261 walkability
- #337 nice weather
- #331 short commute
Manchester, NH
- #3 crime safety
- #22 cost of living vs income
- #241 school grade
- #72 walkability
- #354 nice weather
- #343 short commute
Des Moines, IA
- #70 crime safety
- #5 cost of living vs income
- #18 school grade
- #127 walkability
- #187 nice weather
- #95 short commute
Boise, ID
- #7 crime safety
- #79 cost of living vs income
- #110 school grade
- #166 walkability
- #131 nice weather
- #176 short commute
Rochester, MN
- #26 crime safety
- #20 cost of living vs income
- #98 school grade
- #180 walkability
- #146 nice weather
- #82 short commute
Cheyenne, WY
- #12 crime safety
- #96 cost of living vs income
- #87 school grade
- #218 walkability
- #87 nice weather
- #15 short commute
Austin, TX
- #113 crime safety
- #2 cost of living vs income
- #177 school grade
- #123 walkability
- #47 nice weather
- #342 short commute
Boston, MA
- #37 crime safety
- #76 cost of living vs income
- #123 school grade
- #5 walkability
- #312 nice weather
- #372 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.