Best Small Cities to Live in the U.S. 2026-2027
Built for people still choosing where to live, this tool ranks the small U.S. cities, 25,000 to 100,000 residents, 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.
Bethany, OR
- #114 crime safety
- #60 cost of living vs income
- #56 school grade
- #1065 walkability
- #897 nice weather
- #745 short commute
Sammamish, WA
- #133 crime safety
- #40 cost of living vs income
- #90 school grade
- #1851 walkability
- #399 nice weather
- #1384 short commute
Ashburn, VA
- #6 crime safety
- #102 cost of living vs income
- #64 school grade
- #1054 walkability
- #1611 nice weather
- #1477 short commute
Oakton, VA
- #3 crime safety
- #62 cost of living vs income
- #70 school grade
- #1810 walkability
- #1882 nice weather
- #1404 short commute
South Riding, VA
- #8 crime safety
- #51 cost of living vs income
- #40 school grade
- #1307 walkability
- #1895 nice weather
- #1864 short commute
McLean, VA
- #66 crime safety
- #42 cost of living vs income
- #9 school grade
- #1552 walkability
- #1792 nice weather
- #1267 short commute
Lexington, MA
- #10 crime safety
- #63 cost of living vs income
- #31 school grade
- #1286 walkability
- #1747 nice weather
- #1674 short commute
Burke, VA
- #2 crime safety
- #174 cost of living vs income
- #67 school grade
- #1305 walkability
- #1894 nice weather
- #1508 short commute
University Park, TX
- #957 crime safety
- #65 cost of living vs income
- #42 school grade
- #172 walkability
- #654 nice weather
- #101 short commute
Wayne, PA
- #788 crime safety
- #27 cost of living vs income
- #4 school grade
- #859 walkability
- #1468 nice weather
- #826 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.