With almost half of the population saying that they’d prefer to live in a suburban area, the personal-finance website WalletHub recently released its report on “2025’s Best Small Cities in America.”
WalletHub compared more than 1,300 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 across 45 key indicators of livability. They range from housing costs and school-system quality to restaurants per capita and the crime rate.
The “Top 20” small cities were Carmel, Ind.; Brookfield, Wis.; Apex, N.C.; Lexington, Maine; Westfield, Ind.; Fishers, Ind.; Brentwood, Tenn.; Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; Appleton, Wis.; Lehi, Utah; Leesburg, Va.; Arlington, Maine; Kaysville, Utah; Castle Rock, Colo.;, Franklin, Tenn.; Milton, Maine; Lancaster, Pa.; Holland, Mich.; Noblesville, Ind. and Fairlawn N.Y.
Best versus worst takeaways from this survey were:
- Los Altos, Calif., and McLean, Va., are among the cities which have the highest median annual household income, which is 10.2 times higher than in Isla Vista, Calif., the city with the lowest.
- Southlake, Texas, has the lowest share of the population living in poverty, which is 34.7 times lower than in Isla Vista, Calif., the city with the highest.
- Isla Vista, Calif., has the fewest average hours worked per week, which is 1.8 times fewer than in Fort Hood, Texas, the city with the most.
- Woodbury, Cottage Grove and Oakdale, Minn., have the lowest share of adults in fair or poor health, which is four times lower than in Harlingen, Texas, which is the city with the highest.
“Moving from a bustling metropolis to a small city could drastically cut down your cost of living. On top of that, the best small cities offer strong job markets, high-quality education, good health care, safe living conditions and plenty of local flair to help you achieve a high quality of life,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said. “While small cities may lack some advantages of big cities, like robust public transportation systems, they make up for these shortcomings in other areas.”
“Carmel, Ind., is the best small city to live in, due in part to strong economic factors like one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, at 3.3 percent. On top of that, the median annual household income in Carmel is nearly $135,000, 125th-highest out of the more than 1,300 cities in our study.
“Low unemployment and high incomes have helped people in Carmel obtain a median credit score of 775, the 20th-highest in the country and well into the excellent credit range,” Lupo added. “Finally, Carmel is a good city for health and safety, with the 11th-lowest share of adults in fair or poor health, the third-lowest pedestrian fatality rate and 70th-lowest violent crime rate.”