America's 50 Best Cities to Live

Winchester is one of seven different Massachusetts cities to rank among the best cities to live in America. Like most other cities on this list, Winchester has a high median household income, at $169,623.

Winchester has averaged an unemployment rate of just 2.0% over the past five years, less than half of the U.S. unemployment rate during that same time of 5.3%. It also had an average poverty rate in the past five years of 2.3%.

West University Place, Texas, is just outside of Houston, and just to the west of Rice University. The city of 15,603 has a violent crime rate of just 38.5 incidents per 100,000 residents — roughly one-tenth of the national violent crime rate.

West University Place is one of fewer than 50 major cities with a median household income of more than a quarter million dollars. Nearly 64% of all households in the city earn more than $200,000 per year, compared to just 7.7% of all U.S. households.

Wellesley, Massachusetts, is one of the best cities to live in America, with a median household income of nearly $200,000. The city is among the safest in the country, with a violent crime rate of just 24 incidents per 100,000 residents.

The city is home to Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Community College. More than 18% of residents are enrolled in college, whereas just 6.9% of all Americans are enrolled in college. The city has an 83.8% bachelor’s degree attainment rate among adults 25 and older.

Monterey is a coastal city in Central California, one of 20 California cities to rank among the best places to live in America. The city has a relatively high median household income, at $80,694. The city’s five-year unemployment rate is also low, at 3.0%.

The city is home to Presidio of Monterey, an Army base that houses the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. More than 3,000 active duty armed forces members live in Monterey.

Santa Barbara, along the Central California coast, is one of the best cities to live in America. The city has a relatively high median household income, at $76,606. Its average unemployment rate over the past five years was just 3.8%, well below the 5.3% comparable national rate.

Santa Barbara has a large labor force, as nearly 56% of city residents are employed compared to 47.7% of all Americans. The city is also one of the more active ones in the country — just 14% of adult residents say they get no exercise in their free time, compared to 22.7% of all American adults.