This Is The Best Maryland City To Live In For 2018: Survey

COLUMBIA, MD — Columbia is the best city in Maryland to live, according to a new list that ranks the best cities to reside in every state. The list, compiled by online finance site 24/7 Wall Street, notes that Columbia has grown by 15 percent in the last decade, and there are a host of attractions drawing people there.

"Columbia residents have access to plenty of cultural amenities and entertainment venues. The city has a higher concentration of restaurants, theater companies and movie theaters than is typical nationwide," according to 24/7 Wall Street.

Columbia is one of the more expensive places in the United States when it comes to goods and services but despite its high cost of living, it's the most livable city in the state and one of the most livable cities in the country, the data analysts say.

The typical household income in Columbia is $107,164, versus the median U.S. annual income of $57,617.

"Cities like Columbia are largely the reason Maryland is the wealthiest state in the country," the analysts said.

Through its rankings, 24/7 Wall Street found that the majority of cities that made its "best cities to live in" list were home to a larger share of college-educated adults than the national average, which is 31.3 percent. Educated populations, 24/7 Wall Street writes, are more resilient to economic downturns.

In Columbia, 63.2 percent of the population has a bachelor's degree, according to the survey.

In addition to higher-than-average education levels, another trend 24/7 Wall Street experts noted was that the violent crime rate for almost every city on its list was lower than the U.S. rate. The presence of cultural amenities and entertainment venues was another common factor for the cities on the list.

A list compiled by Niche.com ranked Columbia as the second best place in Maryland to live in 2017 while Money magazine named Columbia the best place to live in America in 2016.

See more Columbia rankings:

• Columbia Among Best Places To Live In Maryland: Niche.com
• Columbia is Best Place to Live in America for 2016: Money Magazine
• HoCo Ranks Among 'Best Counties to Live' in U.S.: 24/7 Wall Street Survey

How The 2018 List Of Best Cities To Live In Was Created

To determine the best city to live in every state, 24/7 Wall Street considered the 550 cities with populations of 65,000 or more. If a state had no cities with a population of at least 65,000, all cities in the state with a population of 40,000 or more were considered.

Data was collected in nine categories:

1. Crime
2. Demography
3. Economy
4. Education
5. Environment
6. Health
7. Housing
8. Infrastructure
9. Leisure

To evaluate cities, 24/7 Wall Street used data from Census Bureau's 2016 American Community Service, the FBI's 2016 Uniform Crime Report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and ATTOM Data Solutions. For each category, specific measures contributed to a city's overall score.

See the full list from 24/7 Wall Street here.

— By Feroze Dhanoa, Patch National Staff and Elizabeth Janney

Image of Columbia lakefront via Shutterstock.