America's 50 Best Cities to Live

Bainbridge Island, Washington, is a city that sits on an island just across the Eliot Bay from Seattle. The city has a median household income of $118,000 and an average poverty rate of just 3.6% over the past five years.

Real estate on Bainbridge Island is in high demand and as a result not that affordable. The median home is worth six times as much as the city’s median household income. Nationwide, the median home is worth 3.5 times as much as the median household income. Still, nearly 80% of homes in Bainbridge Island are owned by those who live in them, well above the U.S. homeownership rate of 64%.

Vienna, Virginia, which is just outside of Washington D.C., is one of the best cities in America to live in. Its median household income of $161,196 is nearly $100,000 higher than the U.S. median. It also has a relatively low poverty rate, at just 2.8%.

Vienna residents tend to have relatively healthy habits. Just 15.0% of residents get no exercise in their leisure time, compared to 22.7% of all Americans. Active lifestyles help reduce the risk of obesity, and just 21.1% of Vienna adult residents are obese, well below the national adult obesity rate of 29.7%.

Due in large part to strong economic conditions, Chatham, New Jersey, ranks as one of the best cities to live in America. The city has a median household income of $192,321, well above the U.S. median of $62,843.

The poverty rate in Chatham is just 1.2%, one of the lowest out of more than 27,000 cities in the country. Home values tend to reflect what people in an area can afford, but even though Chatham’s residents tend to be wealthy, homes are relatively affordable. The median home value is 3.9 times higher than the median household income in the city — higher than the national affordability ratio of 3.5 but lower than every other city to rank among the best places to live.

Belmont is one of several Massachusetts cities around Boston to rank among the best cities to live. Those with college degrees tend to have higher earnings than those without. In Belmont, more than three-quarters of adults 25 and older hold at least a bachelor’s degree, compared to 32.1% of all Americans that age. The area’s $129,380 median household income is more than double the U.S. median.

Belmont is one of the safest cities in the country. It has a violent crime rate of 23 reported incidents per 100,000 residents — a fraction of the U.S. violent crime rate of 367 per 100,000 residents.

San Francisco is by far the largest city to rank among the best cities to live in. Much of the list consists of smaller cities and towns surrounding major cities. San Francisco residents tend to have high earnings, with a median household income nearly $50,000 higher than the U.S. median. The city is also convenient for commuters, with most commuters taking public transit, walking, biking, or working from home.

City residents tend to have a healthy lifestyle. San Francisco is among the most active cities, as more than 85% of residents get some form of exercise in their free time, compared to 77.3% of all Americans. The city has an obesity rate of just 16.9% — one of the lowest in the country.