Best Towns to Live in the U.S. 2026-2027
Built for people still choosing where to live, this tool ranks all 50,333 U.S. towns under 25,000 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 town, the best neighborhoods pages map every preference down to the block for free.
Franklin Farm, VA
- #131 crime safety
- #504 cost of living vs income
- #864 school grade
- #5567 walkability
- #44679 nice weather
- #24095 short commute
Broadlands, VA
- #431 crime safety
- #46 cost of living vs income
- #770 school grade
- #7241 walkability
- #37484 nice weather
- #14403 short commute
Arcola, VA
- #95 crime safety
- #650 cost of living vs income
- #842 school grade
- #4949 walkability
- #45108 nice weather
- #39802 short commute
Whitefish Bay, WI
- #28952 crime safety
- #463 cost of living vs income
- #4680 school grade
- #390 walkability
- #17374 nice weather
- #7556 short commute
Devault, PA
- #3290 crime safety
- #388 cost of living vs income
- #1373 school grade
- #12187 walkability
- #40442 nice weather
- #11837 short commute
Sycolin, VA
- #287 crime safety
- #289 cost of living vs income
- #1512 school grade
- #27203 walkability
- #37254 nice weather
- #19447 short commute
Marvin, NC
- #5906 crime safety
- #80 cost of living vs income
- #199 school grade
- #16804 walkability
- #33364 nice weather
- #29308 short commute
Clifton, VA
- #580 crime safety
- #36 cost of living vs income
- #1891 school grade
- #9190 walkability
- #37061 nice weather
- #35645 short commute
Graniteville, MA
- #117 crime safety
- #862 cost of living vs income
- #2716 school grade
- #18757 walkability
- #43168 nice weather
- #17616 short commute
Saltillo, NE
- #303 crime safety
- #1900 cost of living vs income
- #3787 school grade
- #6944 walkability
- #9138 nice weather
- #5531 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.