U.S. News Best Places to Live in 2022-2023 (fit in, real estate)
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The newest U.S. News list just got released which I thought might be of interest here.
Top 10:
1. Huntsville, AL
2. Colorado Spring, CO
3. Green Bay, WI
4. Boulder, CO
5. San Jose, CA
6. Raleigh & Durham, NC
7. Fayetteville, AR
8. Portland, ME
9. Sarasota, FL
10. San Francisco, CA
Large cities in the top quintile
5. San Jose, CA
6. Raleigh & Durham, NC
10. San Francisco, CA
13. Austin, TX
16. Grand Rapids, MI
18. Boston, MA
19. Washington, DC
22. Portland, OR
23. Salt Lake City, UT
24. Jacksonville, FL
25. Nashville, TN
26. Pittsburgh, PA
27. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
30. Charlotte, NC
I've been to Huntsville and know people who grew up there. It has good things about it, but it is quite difficult for me to understand how it is number one even after looking through the criteria they used for the list as it obviously can't have factored cost of living that high if San Jose hits a number 5 on the list. Huntsville has some pretty rough parts to it--as in very rough. Its weather isn't the worst, but I wouldn't say its great either. The schools are okay, though not much when it comes to higher education. Its infrastructure of roads is in pretty mediocre shape and there's not much mass transit to speak of. The downtown isn't bad, but I wouldn't say particularly remarkable and is overall quite small. It's not that well-connected to other parts in terms of where it is in the US and in terms of where its airport serves. Plus, the area has a really weird "townies" vs NASA-y people grudge going that can be pretty uncomfortable as is what looks like pretty large socioeconomic divides and with a good chunk of the low end going pretty low below poverty and the high end being okay, though surprisingly not all that high.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 05-20-2022 at 12:40 PM..
Gotta have something new to draw attention and Huntsville is the new modest sized darling.
Statistical darlings are not always all that in real life feel, at least not to everybody. Depends how you weight priorities. "Value" is a big part of these rankings and for many people but not all. Huntsville's best category rating is value at 8.5 of 10 with nothing else over 7. Sounds reasonable but probably not best for many. If your top priorities are unique restaurants or concerts or museums, value places may not win out. Unless... you go for the fanciest / value place combos before they lose their value or relative value rating.
"Value" is a real divider of a criteria. If you can pay to get into a hot spot, it may well be a good value to you in the immediate to long-run. Short-term correction risk certainly possible some places.
FYI, very very few places are rated below 5 on anything or overall. So it is really a 5 -10 scale, not wanting to offend the lower places (and their readers / subscribers).
Some of the top 10 names are very dated but may still be what trendies want. Northeast isn't "hot" in general, except with those already in the region or in specific job fields. Texas cooling off? Maybe with media or parts of it.
Pick a metro size and climate, then consider the best options within that group.
Unemployment Rate - 8%
Average Salary - 12%
Value Index - 25% (Median Housing Cost/Median Household Income)
Crime Rates - 8.125%
Quality and Availability of Health Care - 3.25%
Quality of Education - 6.5%
Well-being - 6.5% (Sharecare’s Community Well-Being Index as a representation of whether residents of each metro area are generally happy with their day-to-day lives)
Commuter Index - 5.525%
Air Quality Index - 2.6%
Desirability Index - 17.5% (based on their own survey of residents in March 2022)
Net Migration - 5%
Huntsville sits squarely in the fundamentalist Bible Belt region there, where church going rules, and folks who don't "fit in" are given a long stare by locals.
I've been to Huntsville twice, and it does have some great companies and high - paying jobs, as well as some affordable real estate (compared to out west and the northeast).
A family could carve out a good living there.
But best in the US? If this is the case, I'd say the definition for "best" has been lowered to "slightly above average."
If you're white, then these are excellent cities to live in.
thats 97% of the US and virtually every city on this list.
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