drop everybody looking for a new place to call home. It might be time to take a look at.
The 2022 2023 best places to live rankings by U. S.
News released just this week a lot of people look at this list.
These rankings offer comprehensive evaluations of
the largest metropolitan areas in the country
based on how well they meet americans expectations for where to live.
Joining me now is Devin thorns be real estate editor for U. S. News
Devin, Welcome to the show.
This is one of my favorite topics and one of my favorite list to
look at every year because I'm always surprised by one thing or another.
What are the best places to live according to this latest report?
And how does it differ from last year?
The best places to live this year have gotten a bit of a shakeup at number five.
We have san Jose California. Number four is boulder colorado.
After being number one for two years in a row
at number three we have a green bay Wisconsin,
Number two is colorado springs colorado and number one is Huntsville Alabama,
Huntsville Alabama. There's that surprise already.
Never would have guessed that. Now there are so many factors that go into this.
You guys talked to thousands of people,
Can you explain what these factors are and how these cities are chosen?
Yes.
Uh every year,
the best places to live surveys thousands of
individuals asking what their priorities are when it
comes to picking a new place to live and we look at and ask about affordability,
quality of life desirability,
whether people actually want to live their job market and net migration,
which is whether people are actually moving there.
And by asking their priorities,
we determine what's most important and wait
the data points surrounding those factors accordingly.
And from that we are able to determine which places offer the
most of what people want or need in a place to live.
So aside from the best place to live,
you guys also found the safest most affordable and fastest
growing places. What are they done?
Yes.
All those factors that go into best places to live
are able to serve as kind of separate lists themselves.
So safest places are actually all in florida.
The top three Naples ports ST lucie and fort Myers florida are the top three there
for the most affordable.
We have hickory north Carolina as the most affordable followed by Green bay,
Wisconsin and then Huntsville, Alabama.
And then the fastest growing metro areas. We have myrtle beach south Carolina.
Lakeland florida and Sarasota's florida.
Okay, I'm just taking a moment to look at this list.
I have to say there are so many cities I never thought of,
do you think a lot of this is pandemic related devin.
A lot of it is what we found from the survey.
It seems that a lot of people are
really considering what's most important to them and the
current housing market is having its impact by
certainly having people focus more on housing affordability,
nobody wants to move to a new city and then not be able to buy or rent a home
and then quality of life after two years at
home or spending more time at home at least,
people really want to make sure that they're going
to enjoy the place that they live next.
I mean, these lists are almost completely opposite. I can't I can't get over it.
I'm just looking at this list. So what was the most surprising or
unexpected part of these findings?
I think some things that we saw,
we saw big drops in a couple of metro areas that in the past have performed very well.
Uh denver colorado dropped I think over 50 places
this year after being number 14 last year.
And a big reason for that is the rising cost of living.
It's still a highly desirable place to live,
but it fell back in desirability a little bit.
And while we don't ask the people we serve a when it comes to desirability,
why they choose a place as a preferred place to live.
We can speculate that it's possible that that rising cost of living
kind of takes the shine out of Denver a little bit.
So I have to ask, what does it mean to be at the bottom of this list?
Does that mean it's the worst place to live.
I would not say that we rank 150 metro areas and it's based on
the fact that they are the most populous metro areas in the us.
So while being at the top means we call it at least the best places to live.
I would not say being number 149 or 150 means that you're the worst place to live.
I would say there's room for improvement and maybe some things to keep an eye on.
If you're a person considering moving to those places,
anything you were surprised by because I know you've been doing this
for so many years because I'm still in awe of that list.
But what about you devin?
I think a big thing that is surprising is we're seeing how much
people's changing priorities can change what the best places to live are.
Boulder is still in the top five, but it's no longer number one.
And I think that cost of living plays a role.
And so as a result of being able to
look at the information and see what places are really best for you.
It might not be a place that you expect a lot of people
who aren't familiar with Huntsville probably wouldn't give it a second thought.
But its job market, it's quality of life and its affordability make it number one,
is that what people are now prioritizing when they're choosing
these top locations or these top cities that major list.
Yes, Absolutely.
Especially as we saw I think in a lot of temporary moves,
a lot of people moving out of big cities at the
start of the pandemic and then people started going back to
those cities were now seeing people make a little bit more
conscious long thought out decisions when it comes to moving,
especially if they're moving across the country.
People are considering where they want to be long term and they're
definitely accounting for housing affordability as well as things like crime,
quality of education, access to quality, health care.
All those factors play a big part.
Devin thorns be real estate editor for U. S. News. We really appreciate your time.
Thank you so much Devin.