When choosing where in the U.S. to settle down and take out a mortgage, people consider a variety of factors like housing costs, cost of living, safety and dining and entertainment options. It is possible to measure livability by evaluating how cities rank on these fronts.
Since U.S. city environments can vary drastically, SmartAsset ran the numbers and uncovered the most livable cities in America in this study. Looking at 100 of the largest cities, we considered seven metrics: walkability, violent crime rate, property crime rate, unemployment rate, population density, housing costs as a percentage of income and housing cost-burdened rate. For details on our data sources and how we put the information together to create our final rankings, check out the Data and Methodology section below.
Key Findings
Regional diversity among top 10. There are cities in the Northeast, South, Midwest and West in our top 10, and they span a total of seven states. The seven states include Virginia, Texas, California, Idaho, Nebraska, New Jersey and Wisconsin. Virginia, Texas and California are each represented twice.
Unemployment rates vary. Though the national unemployment rate is at a 50-year low, hovering around 3.5%, unemployment varies significantly nationwide. Unemployment rates, which are measured on the county level in our study, spanned from 1.9% to 8.4%.
Irving was named the 7th most liveable city. According to Smart Asset, Irving, Texas ranks well in terms of safety, with the eighth-lowest violent crime rate and 24th-lowest property crime rate. Additionally, it is relatively affordable and may be a great place for residents looking to become homeowners. In our recent study of where it takes the least time for renters to become homeowners, Irving ranks second of the 100 cities we considered. We estimated that the average time for renters to become homeowners is only 3.35 years here.
Presented by Smart Asset, Dec. 4, 2019
