The 10 Most Livable Cities in the U.S.—and What They’re Lacking

The 10 Most Livable Cities in the U.S.—and What They’re Lacking

July 1, 2024
Atlanta GA, Boston MA, Chicago IL, data journalism, Honolulu HI, Miami FL, Minneapolis MN, Pittsburgh PA, Seattle WA, Trends, Washington DC
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Lauren Wellbank

Certain cities are much nicer to live in than others—and a new report points us toward the very best.

The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited has released its yearly Global Livability Index, which ranks 173 cities from around the world on a 100-point scale. It used 30 different criteria to create these rankings—like crime rates, availability of over-the-counter drugs, quality of road networks, and more—and then sorted all of them into five different categories:

Stability (25% of total weight)
Health care (20%)
Culture and environment (25%)
Education (10%)
Infrastructure (20%)

Vienna, Austria, takes the top spot for the third year in a row with a near perfect score. (The lack of major sporting events is the only thing holding it back from the coveted 100%.)

“Western Europe remains the best-performing region for livability,” notes the report.

Vienna, Austria, takes the top spot for the third year in a row in the yearly Global Livability Index.

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The North American continent came in second in terms of livability, although U.S. cities did not break the top 20, due in part to its lack of affordable housing.

“The cost-of-living crisis drags on in many countries, with housing costs emerging as one of the stickiest elements of inflation,” the report points out.

The top U.S. city, ranked at 23, is Honolulu—which has been ranked the best American city for the second year in a row.

But Honolulu isn’t the only U.S. city with some bragging rights. Both Atlanta and Pittsburgh saw its rankings climb up four spots on the list this year. And while Miami‘s ranking took a bit of a fall in 2024, when it dropped eight spots, it’s still within the top 50 global cities to live in.

Meanwhile, populous hot spots like New York City and Los Angeles ranked 70th and 58th, respectively.

Take a look at the best spots in the country—in order of livability—plus, what you’ll pay for a home there.