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Analysts of the 24/7 Wall St portal have done a great job and selected 50 of the most versatile and convenient cities in the United States out of 30,000 locations. What the research was based on?
Experts identified 25 factors of high-quality and comfortable life, which were eventually grouped into four categories.
First of all, the ratio of the average cost of real estate and the average family income was taken into account. Note that the affordability of housing was largely affected by the amount of property taxes, which are mostly levied at the local level.
To study this category, analysts paid attention to the average value of the unemployment rate over five years, the total number of the working-age population with a job, and the availability of opportunities to increase income.
This section includes several socio-economic indicators, such as the level of poverty, the availability or remoteness of food stores, the mortality rate (and its causes), and the distance to the nearest hospitals.
This category, perhaps, covers the largest number of spheres of life. The analysts estimated the average travel time to work, the proportion of people commuting to the office by public transport, the crime rate, and the number of restaurants, bars, museums, theaters, cinemas, libraries, and parks per capita.
Port Washington is an affluent neighborhood of 16,000 people on the north shore of New York's Long Island, 1 hour away from downtown Manhattan. This location provides access to the jobs of the largest business district in the country. In turn, you get the low unemployment rate – the average for the past five years was 2.2% (for comparison, the national average is 5.3%).
As for income, the average household (often this term means a family, but it can also be one person, or a group of people who are not related, but live together) receives $141,600 per year.
In the center of the city there is a walking pedestrian zone, in the north-west – yacht clubs, parks, beaches and golf courses.
The coastal town of Darien is the only place in Connecticut to make the Top-50. It is located near New York City, about an hour's drive away from downtown Manhattan. Thanks in large part to its location, it is one of the most expensive places to live in America.
A typical home in the area costs about $1.5 million, but for many residents, the high cost is offset by an above-average income. Lots of families here earn more than $230,000, which is almost four times the national average. By the way, the unemployment rate here does not exceed 4.9% for five years.
Almost 22,000 people live in Darien. And every year there is a small increase – an average of + 2.6% over five years. The local population appreciates the easy access to the labor market, the availability of cultural events and other entertainment. The city also has a pedestrian zone and several parks and beaches along the Long Island Sound.
Paradise Valley is the best city to live in the state and... the richest municipality (also in the state): the average household income is $211,400 per year!
Despite the small area (less than 40 sq.km) and the population (14,000 people, +8.4% over the past five years), there are eight resorts, which makes the city one of the main tourist destinations in Arizona. Golf courses, elite restaurants and night clubs are very popular with tourists and locals.
The local labor market is considered strong: there are only 2.1% unemployed (the figure for the previous five years).
Tiburon is located on a peninsula on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay. The nearby city of San Francisco can be reached by both bridge and ferry.
A little more than 9,000 people live here, and the population has grown by 0.5% in five years. A large percentage of local residents are wealthy and educated citizens who earn an average of $154 thousand a year. By comparison, most households in the country receive less than $63,000.
Unemployment here is lower than the American average – at 2.7% versus 5.3%.
Hanover is located along the Connecticut River. It is a home to 8,500 people, a significant proportion of whom are students (Dartmouth College is located in the city). Over five years, the population growth was 1.2%.
Hanover has both urban entertainment (restaurants, hotels, fitness centers, golf courses, parks, museums, libraries, and theaters) and natural attractions. There are a large number of eco-trails around the city, which are suitable for skiing and walking.
The situation on the labor market is as follows. The five-year average unemployment rate is 3%, which is lower than the national average. And the average family earns $110,000 a year.
Piedmont is a small town, with less than 12,000 people living in it (the figure has grown by 3.3% in five years). However, it is located near the metropolitan area of San Francisco and Oakland. The proximity to such large cities implies a well-developed public transport network – more than 15% of local citizens use it (this is more than three times the figure for the country).
Life in Piedmont is not cheap (which is basically typical for California cities), so housing here is expensive: most homes in this area cost more than $2 million. But people also get a lot: one household accounts for an average of $245,000 per year.
The unemployment rate for the five-year period did not exceed 3.9%.
Newport Beach is the most populous city on this list, with 85,000 residents. Although in five years there was a small decline in the population of 1%.
The city consists of 10 blocks, 16 kilometers of coastline, dozens of parks and more than 450 restaurants and shopping centers.
It is one of the least accessible places to live in the country. A typical home in the area costs $1.9 million, which is about 15 times more than the average income of $127,000 per family per year. For comparison, on average in the United States, a house costs 3.5 times more than an American family earns in a year.
The bronze medal in the ranking of prestigious places to live in America was won by Hillsborough with a population of only 11,500 people (+2.7% over the past five years). The city is located 30 km from the center of San Francisco, which makes the latter's labor market very accessible to local residents. In this area, the technology industry is mainly developed.
Hillsborough is one of the richest locations in the United States: on average, a local family receives $250,000 a year. And only 3% of people living here had no job in the previous five years.
There are many restaurants, sports complexes, fitness centers and shops in the city, the concentration of places for spending time is high.
In the town of Manhattan Beach, 35,500 people live, and this figure does not change globally: over the past five years, the population decline was only 0.1%.
It is located south of Los Angeles on the Pacific Coast. There is a three-kilometer beach suitable for fishing, surfing and swimming. The pedestrian zone in the center has more than 150 shops, 50 restaurants, and a weekly farmers' market.
The locals are mostly well-off and well-educated: the family accounts for more than $150,000 a year, and three out of four adults have a bachelor's degree. But the unemployment rate here is higher than in the rest of the top ten places – 5.1%, which is almost commensurate with the national average (5.3%).
The leader of the rating is Palo Alto located in the heart of Silicon Valley and is considered its historical center.
Sometimes it is even called the unofficial capital of Silicon Valley. Therefore, there is a high concentration of technology companies in the city and on its outskirts, including giants such as Facebook, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, Apple and Tesla Motors.
The work here is highly paid: most households receive almost $160,000 annually, and about 40% of families earn more than $200,000. The average unemployment rate for the five-year reporting period is 3.2%, which is less than the national average.
There are 66,500 people living in Palo Alto, and this figure is slowly growing (+0.9% over the past five years).
Photos: southernboating.com, wikimedia.org (Doug Kerr), TownOfPV, en.wikipedia.org (Rich Shelton), wikimedia.org (Ken_Gallager), en.wikipedia.org (Emiellaiendiay), commons.wikimedia.org (Don Ramey Logan Jr.), en.wikipedia.org (Gary Weimberg), flickr.com (Robert Huffstutter), pixabay.com (freeway-4172785)
