AreaVibes’ 2018 list of the 10 best cities to live in America
Ranking process begins with collecting more than 100 cities with populations over 200,000.
They apply Livability Score to create a ranking of the cities.
Livability Score uses a number of factors to establish each city’s score, including the city’s cost of living, employment figures and crime rates.
List for 2018 saw a few changes over last year’s rankings, including the addition of two new cities.
How They Ranked The Cities:
- Amenities: Higher scores for more nearby amenities like: grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, schools, parks, libraries, etc.
- Cost of Living: Higher scores for lower cost of goods and services, groceries, health care, housing, transportation and utilities.
- Crime: Higher scores for low violent crime and property crime. Violent crimes are more heavily weighted.
- Education: Higher scores for high test scores and low student to teacher ratio.
- Employment: Higher scores for high median household income and low unemployment rates.
- Housing: Higher scores for low housing price to median household ratio and high appreciation rates.
- Weather: Higher scores for average temperatures between 70°-75° and low precipitation.