As far as the Golden State goes, a new survey confirms that Northern California is the place to be. In fact, out of the 100 cities listed on Livability.com’s 2016 Best Places To Live list, more than a dozen are in the Bay Area alone.
The researchers looked at 2,000 cities with populations between 20,000 and 350,000. In addition to the economy and educational opportunities, they considered factors like infrastructure, amenities, housing and health.
Some of the Northern California cities on the list include Palo Alto (6), Walnut Creek (11), Santa Cruz (19), Davis (30), and Menlo Park (45). But among the top 50 were also some Southern and Central California towns like Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, and Irvine.
The top 25 were as follows:
1. Rochester, MN
2. Bellevue, WA
3. Madison, WI
4. Santa Barbara, CA
5. Boulder, CO
6. Palo Alto, CA
7. Bismarck, ND
8. Ann Arbor, MI
9. Iowa City, IA
10. Sioux Falls, SD
11. Walnut Creek, CA
12. San Mateo, CA
13. Fort Collins, CO
14. Overland Park, KS
15. Fargo, ND
16. Rapid City, SD
17. Rockville, MD
18. Ashland, OR
19. Santa Cruz, CA
20. Olympia, WA
21. Charlottesville, VA
22. Edina, MN
23. Longmont, CO
24. Littleton, CO
25. Kirkland, WA
Read more about the Best Places To Live in 2016 and see a full list here.
Image Credit: Flickr User davidedamico, https://flic.kr/p/pcYXG3 via (CC BY-SA 2.0)