Best Places To Live In The U.S.

Americans say Austin, Texas, is the best place to live in the United States, according to an annual survey done by U.S. News & World Report.

For the second year in a row, Austin came out on top among the 125 largest metropolitan areas. The 2018 survey measures a city's affordability, employment market and quality of life.

Behind Austin are Colorado Springs, Colorado, Denver, Colorado, Des Moines, Iowa, and Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Rounding out the top 10 are Portland, Oregon, Huntsville, Alabama, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Seattle, Washington.

"When deciding on a place to settle down, it's important to understand that where a person lives can impact their well-being," said Kim Castro, executive editor at U.S. News.

"U.S. News created the Best Places to Live to highlight areas across the country that have the characteristics residents are looking for, including steady job growth and affordability. The top-ranked places are areas where citizens can feel the most fulfilled socially, physically and financially."

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Some of the biggest movers included Colorado Springs, which moved from the 11th spot last year to No. 2. U.S. News chalks that up to "a booming job market and high quality of life."

Huntsville is a first-time top 10 city, and the survey found that it offers "residents in the science, technology, engineering and math fields employment opportunities, while also holding the highest value score out of all places on this year's list."

According to a U.S. News spokesperson, it's hard to tell the benefits a city might receive after appearing on the list.

"Best Places to Live is only in its third year, so it's too soon to tell whether any single event, ranking or company has had a major impact on any one place in such a short period of time," said Anna Beth Jager in an email. "Because local economies, housing markets and quality of life are less likely to see drastic change so immediately, we're expecting to see shifts — whether as a direct result of the Best Places to Live ranking or other factors — take place more gradually."

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Some Austin residents took to social media with their thoughts on the city being named best place to live. One common point of view was to cheer the results, but also to tell people not to move there, as many fear a large influx of newcomers will change a city that residents celebrate for being "weird."

In fact, the unofficial motto of Austin is "Keep Austin Weird." VOA