San Diego Among Money's Best Places To Live

SAN DIEGO, CA — San Diego is among the best places to live in the United States, according to a new ranking released this week by Money.

The 2022 ranking of 50 Best Places to Live in the U.S. includes cities that offer the best in what matters most to residents: economic opportunities, quality of life, and diversity, according to Money. This year, researchers also set out to feature a more diverse list of cities than in past years.

“We kept returning to the question, ‘best places to live for whom?’” researchers said on Money’s website. “(Previous cities were) often quaint, affordable — and unintentionally yet overwhelmingly white. We wanted to create a more welcoming list for a broader group of people this year, so we restructured our data gathering and ranking processes to reflect that priority.”

With a population of 1,381,275 people, San Diego residents have a median household income of $96,246 while the city’s unemployment rate is 3.1 percent.

"While the housing market in California is generally more expensive compared to the rest of the country, home prices in San Diego are more affordable than in other large cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles," according to Money. "The city enjoys a good school system and is home to a branch of the University of California, which ranked No. 7 in Money’s 10 Best Colleges in California and No. 12 in our list of the 25 Best Colleges in America."

Other California cities on the list include:

• Irvine, ranked 13
• Fremont, ranked 18
• San Diego, ranked 22
• San Jose, ranked 25

To determine the cities on this year’s list, Money analyzed data in nine different areas: cost of living, diversity, economic opportunity, education, fun and amenities, health and safety, the housing market, income and personal finance, and quality of life.

Data was collected from several sources including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Read more about the methodology for Money’s Best Places To Live.

The top city on this year’s list is Atlanta, Georgia.

“This is no accident,” researchers said. “At a time when people are becoming much more introspective about their role in society, our goal this year was to name a number one where anyone can feel like they belong. And for that, Atlanta is hard to beat.”

Following Atlanta is Tempe, Arizona, at No. 2, and Kirkland, Washington, at No. 3.

See the full list of Best Places To Live.