There’s a new list of top 100 best places to live in the U.S., and four of them are in California. There are so many factors that go into deciding which city is among the best places to live. Almost every top city ranking looks at a city’s economy, housing prices, cost of living, and education when choosing their best cities. But this new study from Livability includes different factors than most other studies.
Unique factors
Their best cities list is unique for several reasons. First, it looks only at smaller and mid-size cities. The qualifying cities must only have populations between 75,000 and 500,000. Second, affordability is the most important factor contributing to their list. Only cities with a “median home value of $500,000 or less” are considered. Plus, they examine the average home prices and rent relative to the average income of the city’s residents.
Here are all the factors that the Livability Score considers:
- Economy (unemployment rate, employment opportunity)
- Housing & Cost of Living (tax rates, home & rental affordability, income inequality)
- Amenities (museums, nightlife, shopping, etc.)
- Transportation (walkability)
- Environment (population density, air quality, natural disaster risks)
- Safety (crime rates)
- Education (school quality)
- Health (doctor & hospital access)
The four best California cities
Here are the four California cities that achieved high numbers on the Livability Score – Elk Grove, Clovis, Murrieta, and Redding. All of the following scores are rated out of 1,000. First, Elk Grove rated the highest with a score of 799 and it ranks the highest in the environment, health, and economy categories.
Clovis is second on the list with a score of 751. It ranks highest for environment, transportation and economy. Next, Murrieta has a high score of 730, and it ranks highest in the environment, amenities, and economy categories. Finally, Redding has a high score of 713 with the environment, transportation, and housing categories scoring the highest.
You can see even more detailed information on each of these high-quality-of-life California cities and read more about the study here.