These are the best small cities to live an work in the US in 2025

"A recent WalletHub study surveyed 1,318 small cities across the US - defined as cities with populations sized between 25,000 and 100,000 people - and compared them across categories including affordability, economy, health, education, and quality of life. The affordability rank of each city was determined by looking at its average housing cost, homeownership rate, household income, and cost of living, among other metrics, according to the study's methodology section."

"Economic health was measured using metrics such as population, income, and job growth rates, as well as unemployment rates, average debt and bankruptcy rates, and median credit scores. For the education and health rankings, WalletHub examined metrics such as graduation rates, rates of obese and physically inactive adults, insured population, and other health indicators. They also used a school-system quality metric based on previous WalletHub research."

"The quality of life ranking took into account factors such as average commute time and work hours, as well as the number of restaurants, bars, clubs, and other attractions per capita. Each city's safety ranking was determined using rates like violent and property crime, car crashes, pedestrian deaths, and drug poisoning deaths. The study utilized data from the US Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,"

1,318 U.S. small cities (population 25,000–100,000) were compared across affordability, economy, health, education, quality of life, and safety. Affordability metrics included average housing cost, homeownership rate, household income, and cost of living. Economic health used population, income, job growth, unemployment, debt and bankruptcy rates, and median credit scores. Education and health rankings used graduation rates, adult obesity and physical inactivity rates, insured population, and other indicators, plus a school-system quality metric. Quality of life considered commute times, work hours, and attractions per capita. Safety used crime, traffic and pedestrian deaths, and drug poisoning deaths. Data sources included federal agencies and private data firms.

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