U.S. News Releases the 2025-2026 Best Places to Live Rankings
WASHINGTON, May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in rankings and consumer advice, today unveiled the 2025-2026 Best Places to Live in the U.S., ranking major U.S. cities based on value, desirability, job market and quality of life. This year, U.S. News expanded its data to evaluate more than 850 cities (up from 150 in previous years), publishing the top 250 as the year's best places to live.
New data considerations and the expansion of evaluated cities resulted in a new top 10 for the 2025-2026 year, with Johns Creek, Georgia, taking No. 1 due to its strong job market and desirability scores.
"The expansion of the 2025-2026 Best Places to Live rankings gives consumers a more detailed view into what it's like to live somewhere at the community level, enabling them to consider more options for potential places to settle down," said Erika Giovanetti, consumer lending analyst at U.S. News & World Report.
Carmel, Indiana, ranked No. 2 on the strength of its high desirability, value and job market scores. Texas debuted three top-10 placements due to strong value and desirability scores: Pearland, Texas, landed at No. 3, while League City, Texas, and Leander, Texas, placed at No. 6 and No. 8, respectively.
The 2025-2026 Best Places to Live were determined based on a methodology that takes into account the city's job market, value, quality of life and desirability. These measures were weighted in part based on a public survey of thousands of individuals throughout the U.S. to find what qualities they consider important in a place to live. The methodology also factors in data from U.S. News' internal resources, Applied Geographic Solutions, and U.S. government agencies including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Emergency Management Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
This year, based on consumer sentiment, the weights were stack-ranked, measuring quality of life, value, desirability and job market. The 2025-2026 rankings also include U.S. News Best States data on economy and infrastructure to deepen consumer confidence and understanding of cities' standings on important factors that contribute to overall quality of life.
"While quality of life remains the top priority for many Americans – and has the heaviest weight in determining the Best Places to Live rankings – U.S. News slightly adjusted its weights to increase priority for a location's job market amid heightened economic uncertainty," said Giovanetti.
The 859 cities analyzed for the 2025-2026 reveal were then ranked within state-specific rankings.
"This year's release celebrates the top 250 places that meet consumer needs best, but also offers the ability to view top-ranked cities in states of their choice," added Giovanetti.
Best Places to Live is part of U.S. News' expanding Real Estate division, which helps individuals determine the best places to live, and places to retire, as well as better understand the housing market, determine their home value, work with a real estate agent, and buy and sell a home.
2025-2026 U.S. News Best Places to Live – Top 10
*See the full rankings here.
1. Johns Creek, GA
2. Carmel, IN
3. Pearland, TX
4. Fishers, IN
5. Cary, NC
6. League City, TX
7. Apex, NC
8. Leander, TX
9. Rochester Hills, MI
10. Troy, MI
For more information on Best Places to Live, explore Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) using #BestPlaces.
About U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is the global leader for journalism that empowers consumers, citizens, business leaders and policy officials to make confident decisions in all aspects of their lives and communities. A multifaceted media company, U.S. News provides unbiased rankings, independent reporting and analysis, and consumer advice to millions of people on USNews.com each month. A pillar in Washington for more than 90 years, U.S. News is the trusted home for in-depth and exclusive insights on education, health, politics, the economy, personal finance, travel, automobiles, real estate, careers and consumer products and services.
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SOURCE U.S. News & World Report, L.P.
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