The 25 Best Places to Live in America

It's impossible to please everyone with a list of great places to live. Some people prefer big cities, while others may be looking for a quieter place to escape to. The qualities people value in a location—like affordability, culture, and safety—also vary from person to person. But when it comes to diverse options, MONEY magazine's annual list of the 100 best places to live in the U.S. has something for everyone. Its list for 2019 includes towns, urban neighborhoods, and mid-sized cities in all regions of the country.

To compile this year's list of the best places to live, MONEY only looked at places that met certain criteria. The locations on the list all have populations of 50,000 or more. For cities where the population exceeds 300,000, the publication chose individual neighborhoods with 5000 to 200,000 residents to rank. Spots with more than double the national crime risk, less than 85 percent its state's median household income, and little ethnic diversity were automatically removed from consideration.

Of the 1796 places that met those standards, MONEY chose 100 that excelled in areas like housing, education, cost of living, diversity, income, safety, and amenities. In what seemed like a surprise to some, Clarksville, Tennessee, came out on top. The city, which is home to about 160,000 people, boasts a growing economy, a thriving small business scene, and an affordable housing market. It's also located less than an hour from Nashville. Clarksville was followed by Round Rock, Texas, in the second slot and Fishers, Indiana, coming in at number three.

It wasn't just towns and mid-sized cities that made the list. Neighborhoods in the biggest cities in America were also named some of the best places to live, including the Fulton River District in Chicago, Illinois (No. 4), and Ditmas Park in Brooklyn, New York (No. 11).

You can check out the top 25 locations from MONEY's list below and see the full list of 100 here. If you'd like to broaden your living options even further, here are the safest cities to live around the world.

1. Clarksville, Tennessee

1. Round Rock, Texas

1. Fishers, Indiana

1. Fulton River District in Chicago, Illinois

1. Country Club Heights in Charlotte, North Carolina

1. Draper, Utah

1. Bentonville, Arkansas

1. Madison, Wisconsin

1. Meridan, Idaho

1. Winter Garden, Florida

1. Ditmas Park in Brooklyn, New York

1. Redmond, Washington

1. Pearl in Portland, Oregon

1. Dranesville, Virginia

1. Rochester, Minnesota

1. Johns Creek, Georgia

1. Charleston, South Carolina

1. Irvine, California

1. Iowa City, Iowa

1. Columbia, Maryland

1. Spring Valley, Nevada

1. Goodyear, Arizona

1. LoDo in Denver, Colorado

1. O'Fallon, Missouri

1. Shawnee, Kansas

[h/t MONEY]