America’s Best Places to Live in 2023
If you’re thinking about finding a new place to call home this year, you’re not alone. According to home equity investment company Point, 22 percent of homeowners want to move before the end of 2023. And Redfin data from the fourth quarter of 2022 showed that a record 24.6 percent of its users were looking to relocate to a new city.
Packing up and moving, though, requires knowing where you want to go next. It’s a tough question to answer, given the pandemic-fueled housing market madness of the past couple years. Whether you’re moving for a job, for personal reasons or with the newfound freedom of working remotely, where can you live your best life?
To help focus your search on cities where your money will stretch furthest and your lifestyle will be most enjoyable, Bankrate analyzed metro areas across the country. Our proprietary scoring model aggregated data based on five key categories: well-being, affordability, job market, diversity and migration. Based on our assessment, here are the 10 best places to live in the U.S. right now.
5. Raleigh, NC
Bankrate’s best place to live in North Carolina is also one of the best places to live in the entire country. As one of the three corners of the state’s famed Research Triangle, Raleigh has made a name for itself as an East Coast center of innovation, and there are plans for a billion-dollar Apple campus coming soon. Even if you aren’t chasing career ambitions in the tech or research sector, this state capital is equally appealing due to a mild year-round climate, a blossoming foodie scene and plenty of opportunities to cheer for the hometown NC State Wolfpack.
- Median home sale price: $432,430
- Cost of living: 94.7 (national average is 100)
- Average salary: $60,884
- Unemployment rate: 3.3%
- Total employees year-over-year: +5.7%
- Well-being: 67.0 out of 100
- Diversity: 62.1 out of 100
- Net migration: +1.6% population increase year-over-year
Why it stands out: Inflation has made life harder all around the country, but Raleigh manages to deliver a cost of living below the national average. The city has earned nods as “the next Silicon Valley,” and its lower bills make it a much more affordable option than the Bay Area: Bankrate’s cost of living calculator shows that Raleigh is around 50 percent more affordable than San Francisco, with much, much lower housing prices.
Citation: McMillin, DM. (2023, January 24). America’s best places to live in 2023. Bankrate. January 31, 2023 from https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/best-places-to-live/us/?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=rasa_io
