Columbia Ranks Among Best Cities To Live In America

COLUMBIA, MD —Niche is out with its 2019 Best Cities To Live in America list, and Columbia made the cut. In fact, it cracked the top 10.

Niche — a data analysis company that ranks cities, schools and companies — took a comprehensive look at how livable U.S. cities are. The site grades cities on cost of living, housing, public schools, diversity, crime and safety, jobs, health and fitness, commute times and more.

Columbia received high marks for its public schools and diversity as well as its family friendliness. The latter was determined based on access to parks, libraries, cultural events and family-oriented amenities.

Overall, Columbia ranked 8th in the nation on Niche's 2019 Best Cities To Live in America list.

The company released the list on Monday, March 4, in its package of 2019 Best Places To Live rankings, which evaluated 228 cities and 18,000 towns and neighborhoods across the country based on user reviews and data from the U.S. Census, FBI and other federal agencies.

Here is what Niche said about Columbia:

"Columbia is a city in Maryland with a population of 103,170. Columbia is in Howard County and is one of the best places to live in Maryland. Living in Columbia offers residents a suburban feel and most residents own their homes. In Columbia there are a lot of coffee shops and parks. Many families and young professionals live in Columbia and residents tend to lean liberal. The public schools in Columbia are highly rated."

These are Niche's Best Cities to Live in America for 2019:

1. Arlington, Virginia
2. Ann Arbor, Michigan
3. Berkeley, California
4. The Woodlands, Texas
5. Plano, Texas
6. Naperville, Illinois
7. Overland Park, Kansas
8. Columbia, Maryland
9. Cambridge, Massachusetts
10. Bellevue, Washington

A separate Niche list looked at best places to live in Maryland by neighborhood. Columbia ranked 9th and Ellicott City was 7th on that list. Every other town in the top 10 was in Montgomery County.

Niche also ranked Columbia as the 5th best place in America to raise a family and 10th best city in America to buy a house.

Patch editor Emily Leayman contributed.