The Best (And Most Affordable) Places To Live In America, Ranked In A New Report

26.03.2024 - 11:59 / forbes.com

Looking for the best places to live in the United States? What about the cheapest places to live? Niche just issued the new report, “2024 Best Places to Live in America,” which has the answers.

Niche, a data-driven platform with ratings and reviews of cities across America, analyzes a number of categories, including the best cities (which it defines as urban areas with a population of 100,000 or more), the best suburbs, the best neighborhoods, the best places (defined as a non-rural town with a population of 1,000 or more, including neighborhoods, suburbs, and cities), the best spots with the lowest cost of living, the best locations for young professionals and more.

This is the 10th year that Niche has issued the Best Places to Live in America report. “It provides people with the tools and information they need to discover their best-fit options based on whatever they value most,” Zach Chatham, PR manager at Niche, told me in an interview. “It’s a great resource for anyone wanting to learn more about what a place is really like, whether that be to visit on vacation or to call home when moving.”

Niche’s Best Places to Live rankings are built using a wide range of public data sources. “Each year we review those sources and our methodology to ensure we’re providing people with the most accurate, informative, and helpful rankings possible,” says Chatham. “This year, we adjusted crime and safety data to rely more on Niche user data rather than third party sources.”

Compare the results to last year’s list of the best (and cheapest) places to live in America, 2022’s list of the best places to live in America, as well as the cheapest places to live in the U.S. in 2021.

So what is the best city to live in America in 2024? Coming in at the top of the list is Naperville, Illinois—located an hour’s drive from Chicago. The city is home to an extensive parks and forest preserve network, and it performs well in several factors. “In addition to being this year’s number one Best City to Live in America (up from number three last year), Naperville is also number one in Best Cities to Raise a Family in America and number one in Cities with Best Public Schools in America, followed by a number three ranking in Best Cities to Buy a House,” says Chatham.

Other factors driving Naperville to the top include health and fitness, jobs and diversity. The weakest factor for Naperville—the weather, where it rates a C+.

This year, America’s best suburb is Carmel, Indiana, located just north of Indianapolis. It’s got lots of restaurants, coffee shops, parks and a few other winning qualities: “With a strong overall placement of number two for Best Places to Live in America, Carmel ranks highly within the key categories for a strong