Over 80% of the U.S. population lives in urban areas. That is up from just over 60% in 1960. This has triggered a large number of problems, among them the stress they put on infrastructure, which includes roads. The need for services like police, fire and emergency services costs cities huge amounts of their budgets. This migration also has changed the face of America. The number of people who live on farms is down to 1% of the total U.S. population.
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Some cities have had little to combat years of decay, which has completely changed them over the past half-century. Great industrial cities like Detroit have lost half their population since 1950 as the companies that built them either disappeared or moved elsewhere. An unusually large number of the residents who remain live in poverty. Property tax revenue for city services has plunged.

Some cities have done outstanding jobs to support highly positive environments for their residents. To identify the best city to live in, 24/7 Wall St. used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, FBI and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create a weighted index of 25 measures across four categories: affordability, economy, quality of life and community.

The cities considered are concentrated in just a dozen states. California dominates the list, with 20 of its cities making the list, followed by Massachusetts with seven and New Jersey with six. Additionally, most of the cities reviewed are typically just outside major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Boston or Chicago. Their residents have access to the high-paying jobs in those cities but can avoid issues that often come with living in major cities, like higher crime rates and housing costs.

The analysis reveals that the best city to live in America is Burlingame, California. Here are the details:

• Population: 30,576
• Five-year population change: +3.2%
• Median household income: $128,447
• Five-year unemployment rate: 4.7%

Burlingame ranks as the best city to live in America. Located between San Francisco and San Jose along the San Francisco Bay, it has a median household income more than double the U.S. median of $62,843. Both poverty and unemployment are relatively uncommon.

Burlingame residents have among the highest quality of life ratings and tend to make healthy lifestyle choices. Just 15.6% of residents get no leisure time exercise, compared to 22.7% of all Americans. Chronic health issues are generally uncommon, and nearly all residents have a place to exercise.

Click here to see America’s 50 best cities in which to live.

Methodology

As mentioned, to identify the best city to live in, 24/7 Wall St. created a weighted index of 25 measures across four categories: affordability, economy, quality of life and community.
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The affordability category consisted of three measures:

• The ratio of median home value to median household income was included at full weight.
• Median property taxes paid as a percentage of median home value was included at one-fourth weight.
• Regional price parity, a measure of cost of living, was included at full weight.

The economy category consisted of four measures:

• Median home value was included at full weight.
• Employment growth from 2015 to 2019 was included at one-half weight.
• The ratio of the number of employed workers to the total population was included at one-half weight.
• The unemployment rate was included at full weight.

The quality of life category consisted of six measures:

• The poverty rate was included at full weight.
• The share of the population in urban census tracts at least a mile from a grocery store and in rural census tracts at least 10 miles from a grocery store (a measure of poor food access) was included at full weight.
• The distance from the city center to the nearest hospital was included at full weight.
• The percentage of patients discharged from acute care hospitals who were readmitted to the hospital within 30 days was included at full weight.
• The percentage of heart attack, coronary artery bypass grafting surgery, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure, pneumonia and stroke patients who passed away within 30 days of treatment was included at full weight.
• The number of drug-related fatalities per 100,000 residents was included at one-fourth weight.

The community category consisted of 12 measures:

• The percentage of workers 16 and over commuting by public transit, walking or other non-car means was included at one-half weight.
• The average travel time to work was included at full weight.
• The number of hospital admissions for conditions that could be treated in an outpatient setting per 1,000 Medicare enrollees (an indication of poor outpatient care and overuse of hospitals) was included at one-half weight.
• The number of violent crimes (homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) reported per 100,000 residents was included at full weight.
• The number of property crimes (burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson) reported per 100,000 residents was included at full weight.
• The number of movie theaters per 100,000 residents was included at one-fourth weight.
• The number of libraries and archives per 100,000 residents was included at one-fourth weight.
• The number of theater companies and dinner theaters per 100,000 residents was included at one-fourth weight.
• The number of museums per 100,000 residents was included at one-fourth weight.
• The number of nature parks and similar institutions per 100,000 residents was included at one-fourth weight.
• The number of alcoholic drinking places per 100,000 residents was included at one-fourth weight.
• The number of restaurants and other eating places per 100,000 residents was included at one-fourth weight.

Data on population, employment, unemployment, median home value, median household income, median property taxes paid, commuter characteristics, average travel time to work and poverty came from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and are five-year estimates for the period 2015 to 2019. Employment data used to calculate five-year employment growth are five-year estimates for the years 2011 to 2015. Data on cost of living came from real estate analysis company ATTOM Data Solutions and is for the year 2014.

Data on the share of the population in urban census tracts or areas at least a mile from a grocery store and in rural census tracts at least 10 miles from a grocery store came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2020 update to the Food Access Research Atlas and is at the county level.

Data on hospital locations came from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Data on 30-day readmission rates and 30-day mortality rates also came from the CMS and are for the period July 2016 to June 2019. Data was aggregated to the city level for cities with at least one hospital and was aggregated to the county level for cities with no hospitals. Data on the number of drug-related deaths per 100,000 residents per year from the period 2017 to 2019 is from the CDC and is at the county level. Data on preventable hospitalizations per 1,000 Medicare enrollees came from the 2021 County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, and is at the county level.

Data on the number of violent crimes and property crimes reported per 100,000 residents came from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program and are for the year 2019.

Data on the number of movie theaters, libraries and archives, theater companies and dinner theaters, museums, nature parks and other similar institutions, alcoholic beverage drinking places, and restaurants and other eating places came from the Census Bureau’s 2019 County Business Patterns series and is at the county level.

To avoid geographic clustering, we only took the top-ranking city in a given county. Our list includes cities, towns, villages, boroughs and census-designated places. We did not include places with fewer than 8,000 residents in our analysis.

Click here to see America’s 50 best cities in which to live.

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