Charlotte has inched up a spot in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of the “100 Best Places to Live” in the U.S., landing at No. 14.
While the Queen City bested many cities in the Southeast, including Tampa, Fla., Louisville, Ky., Atlanta, Birmingham, Ala., and New Orleans, on the new list, Charlotte remained behind Raleigh-Durham again this year. That metro area placed at No. 7, down three spots from No. 4 in 2016. Charlotte ranked No. 15 last year.
To compile the list, U.S. News took the 100 most populous metro areas and ranked each on its value, desirability, job market strength and quality of life. The quality of life index carried the most weight, accounting for 30% of the overall score. Next was value, at 25%, followed by job market at 20%, desirability at 15% and net migration at 10%. That was determined based on answers from a public survey in which Americans voted on which measures were most important when considering a move.
Data came from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Labor as well as U.S. News’ internal resources.
Here’s how Charlotte scored in those five categories and overall:
7.6: Desirability
7.4: Value
6.7: Job market
6.5: Quality of life
8: Net migration
7.1: Overall
And here are the top 20 metro areas to live, according to U.S. News:
Austin, Texas
Denver
San Jose
Washington, DC
Fayetteville, Ark.
Seattle
Raleigh-Durham
Boston
Des Moines, Iowa
Salt Lake City
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Boise, Idaho
Nashville, Tenn.
Charlotte
Dallas-Fort Worth
San Francisco
Minneapolis-St. Paul
Madison, Wis.
Grand Rapids, Mich.
Houston
Jenna Martin
