Worcester Among Top 100 Best Places To Live In 2020: U.S. News

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester is among the best cities in the U.S. to live in 2020, according to rankings released by U.S. News & World Report today. This year’s lists evaluate the 150 most populous metropolitan areas in the United States based on affordability, job prospects and desirability.

Worcester ranked No. 68 on the list of the best cities to live with an overall score of 6.6 out of 10. It also ranked No. 91 among the best cities to retire.

U.S. News highlighted Worcester's "affordable housing, green parks, quality hospitals and proximity to a dozen highly esteemed colleges and universities" as reasons it cracked the top 100. The ranking comes after Livability.com ranked Worcester the No. 53 best place to live in the U.S. last week.

To provide a more broad and accurate reflection of where Americans want to live and retire, U.S. News increased the number of metropolitan areas evaluated for both sets of rankings from 125 to 150. To determine the best places to live, researchers took into consideration the job market, housing affordability, quality of life, desirability and net migration ratings, among other factors.

Cities on the list were also determined in part by public survey, taken five months after the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of respondents weighed in on what qualities they consider important when choosing where they’re going to put down roots.

U.S. News also looked at data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as its own rankings of the Best High Schools and Best Hospitals.

Cities were then scored in several areas, which were used to determine the overall score.

Here’s how Worcester scored in those areas:

• Desirability 5.7
• Value 6.6
• Job Market 7.3
• Quality of Life 6.9
• Net Migration 6.0

Boulder, Colorado, debuted on the Best Places to Live ranking at No. 1 this year, while Denver held at No. 2, and Austin, Texas, fell from the top spot to No. 3.

In Massachusetts, only Boston ranked higher than Worcester, coming in at No. 18 overall. But Worcester beat much bigger (and warmer) cities, including Honolulu, Pittsburgh and Oklahoma City.

The coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest may have had an impact on how people perceive some cities this year, researchers said. Desirability was the most significant factor in ranking decreases for hard-hit cities like Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York City and Washington, D.C.

See the full U.S. News list of Best Places To Live.