City Rankings
Explore 9 ranking categories across all 50 U.S. states. Every ranking is built from official Census Bureau and CDC PLACES data.
Ranking Categories 9
Safest Cities
Cities ranked by Community Safety Score — a composite of health outcomes, economic stability, and healthcare access from CDC and Census data.
Most Affordable Cities
Cities ranked by lowest median home values.
Most Expensive Cities
Cities ranked by highest median home values.
Highest Income Cities
Cities ranked by highest median household income.
Largest Cities
Cities ranked by total population from the Census Bureau.
Fastest Growing Cities
Cities ranked by population growth percentage over the past decade.
Most Educated Cities
Cities ranked by percentage of residents with a bachelor's degree or higher.
Lowest Unemployment
Cities ranked by lowest civilian unemployment rate.
All States 51
Each state page includes all 9 ranking categories for cities within that state.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does the ranking data come from?
All rankings are computed from official U.S. government data: the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2022 5-year estimates) for population, income, housing, education, and employment data, and the CDC PLACES dataset (2023) for health outcomes and healthcare access metrics.
What is the Community Safety Score?
The Community Safety Score is a composite metric combining CDC health outcomes (mental health, physical health, obesity, smoking, heart disease, stroke, diabetes), Census economic indicators (poverty rate, unemployment rate), and healthcare access data. It weights health outcomes at 55%, economic stability at 30%, and healthcare access at 15% to produce a score from 0 to 100.
How many cities are ranked?
Each state ranking includes up to 50 cities, sorted by the ranking metric. Not all cities have complete data for every metric — only cities with sufficient data appear in each ranking. The number varies by state and category.
Data Sources
Population, income, housing, education, and employment data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2022 5-year estimates). Health data from the CDC PLACES (2023).