Boulder No. 4 best place to live in 2022-23

Noted for extraordinary beauty and quality of life, Boulder ranked as the fourth best place to live of the 150 most populous metro areas, according to a U.S. News report on their “Best Places to Live” analysis.

And that’s just a start. Boulder also ranked as the No. 2 best place to live in Colorado, second for best quality of life, and the 100th best place to retire.

Another well-loved Colorado metro — Colorado Springs — rose to the No. 2 best place to live in the U.S. News analysis, as well as the 86th best place to retire and the No. 1 best place to live in Colorado.

U.S. News analyzed 150 metro areas in the United States to find the best places to live based on quality of life and the job market in each metro area, as well as the value of living there and people’s desire to live there.

The top five places to live are led by Huntsville, AL, in the top spot, followed by Colorado Springs, Green Bay, WI, Boulder and San Jose.

Boulder
Boulder had an overall score of 6.8, due in part to the expansive valley’s Rocky Mountains foothills backdrop and snow-capped Indian Peaks. The environment perfectly suits the world class athletes who call this outdoor mecca home. For those seeking healthy living, the area offers forest bathing — or absorbing the forest atmosphere — free meditation sessions, yoga of all types, and less well-known activities like parkour, writes U.S. News.

The town is long known for its offerings of “weird” events like Tube to Work Day, where residents jump into an always frigid Boulder Creek and commute to their place of work.

The eclectic mix attracts young professionals, families, academics, scientists and transplants from both coasts. And with 40,000 acres open to the public in Boulder County, outdoor enjoyment is abundant. At the end of the day, you can choose among many excellent restaurants.

The report says that the cost of living can be high – in fact it is currently the 22nd most expensive place to live in the U.S. Buying a home is competitive, but for those who want the lifestyle Boulder offers, it’s well worth it.

Boulder’s overall score is 6.8, with desirability at 6.8, value at 5.1, and job market and quality of life at 7.7, according to the U.S. News Best Places to Live index.

Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs rose to the No. 2 best place to live in the 2022-23 U.S. News report, up from fourth last year. Known locally as “The Springs,” the area’s overall score is 6.8, with desirability at a 10, quality of life 6.4, value 5.7, and the job market is 6.1. The area offers all of the goodness of close-by mountain fun and a strong job market coupled with a lower cost of living than nearby Denver, though housing costs have escalated and continue to climb. Compared to the rest of the U.S., the cost of living and housing are higher than the national average.

The full list of top ten best places to live includes:

No. 1 Huntsville, AL
No. 2 Colorado Springs, CO
No. 3 Green Bay, WI
No. 4 Boulder, CO
No. 5 San Jose, CA
No. 6 Raleigh-Durham, NC
No. 7 Fayetteville, AR
No. 8 Portland, ME
No. 9 Sarasota, FL
No. 10 San Francisco, CA

U.S. News & World Report’s Best Places to Live evaluates metro areas with data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. News’ own internal resources. This data was categorized into job market, value, quality of life, desirability and net migration and weighted based on a public survey in August 2020 in which people from across the country voted for what they believed was the most important factor to consider when choosing where to live.

Read the full report at: realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/best-places-to-live .

By Tom Kalinski. Tom is the broker/owner of RE/MAX of Boulder, the local residential real estate company he established in 1977. He was inducted into Boulder County’s Business Hall of Fame in 2016 and has a 40-year background in commercial and residential real estate. For questions, email Tom at [email protected], call 303.441.5620, or visit boulderco.com.