Twin Cities Makes Top 20 In 'Best Places to Live' Rankings

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — At least some things stay the same. The Twin Cities metro area once again made the top 20 "Best Places to Live," according to new rankings out Tuesday from U.S. News and World Report.

Minneapolis-St. Paul is No. 17, the same ranking it received last year.

Austin, Texas, was at the top of the list, followed by Denver, Colorado, and San Jose, California.

The report from U.S. News looked at the 100 most populous metro areas in the country and and graded them based on several factors, including the job market, affordability, income, schools, crime and more.

Analysts noted that Minneapolis and St. Paul offer big-city amenities such as museums and sports teams while also maintaining an approachable, Midwestern feel:

Separated by the Mississippi River, the Twin Cities are considered one metropolitan area but actually include two unique cities, featuring downtown cosmopolitan cores surrounded by distinctive neighborhoods and suburban communities.

Other metros in the region were also ranked: Madison, Wisconsin was ranked just behind the Twin Cities at No. 18 and Chicago, Illinois was at No. 83.

Here were the top 10 places to live in the country, according to the rankings:

1. Austin, TX
2. Denver, CO
3. San Jose, CA
4. Washington, DC
5. Fayetteville, AR
6. Seattle, WA
7. Raleigh & Durham, NC
8. Boston, MA
9. Des Moines, IA
10. Salt Lake City, UT

Austin jumped up one spot to No. 1, switching places with last year's top city of Denver. You can click here to see last year's rankings.

These were the categories used to come up with the rankings, along with how heavily they were weighted:

• Job Market Index (20 percent): A look at both the 12-month moving unemployment rate and the median salary, weighted equally.
• Value Index (25 percent): A comparison of the median annual household income against the blended annual cost of living, which looks at utility costs and taxes compared against mortgage rates and monthly rents.
• Quality of Life Index (30 percent): A look at how satisfied residents are with their daily lives, which takes into account crime rates, quality and availability of health care, quality of education, well-being and the commuter index.
• Desirability Index (15 percent): Based off of a nationwide Google Consumer Survey that asked people which city they would like to live in.
• Net Migration (10 percent): Looking at how fast people are moving in or out of major metro areas.

And here were the bottom 10 metro areas ranked by U.S. News & World Report:

100. San Juan, PR
99. Modesto, CA
98. Stockton, CA
97. Bakersfield, CA
96. Fresno, CA
95. New Orleans, LA
94. McAllen, TX
93. Memphis, TN
92. Miami, FL
91. Jackson, MS
90. Birmingham, AL

See the full rankings from U.S. News & World Report.

Greg Hambrick (Patch National Staff) contributed to this report.

Image via m01229, Flickr, used under Creative Commons