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NEW YORK – A new analysis from lawncare company LawnStarter recently released a new ranking of hundreds of cities across the U.S. based on their quality of life, and several cities in the New York metro ranked near the top.
What we know:
The study looked at the 500 biggest cities in the U.S., then used thirteen different metrics to grade them on their quality of life. The categories included things like education, safety, access to healthcare and even mental health, weighing each category differently to come up with an overall score.
The top 10 US cities by quality of life
Big picture view:
Some states had much more representation than others, for both good and bad reasons. California, for example, had nearly 40 cities land in the top 100. Meanwhile, Texas had 30 in the bottom 100.
Here are the top 10:
- Newton, Massachusetts
- Woodbury, Minnesota
- Plymouth, Minnesota
- Pleasanton, California
- Redmond, Washington
- Castle Rock, Colorado
- Bellevue, Washington
- San Ramon, California
- Naperville, Illinois
- Carmel, Indiana
Based on LawnStarter’s data, cities like Newton and Cambridge ranked highly for their safety and education levels, while Plymouth, Minnesota, got such a high score because of things like its low unemployment.
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Local perspective:
In the New York metro area, just two cities ranked in the top 100. New Rochelle was ranked 42, thanks to high marks for economic stability and mental health. Jersey City ranked 84, also for their mental health score, and decent education rankings.
On the other end of the spectrum, two New Jersey cities ranked in the bottom 100 — Newark and Camden, both ranked very poorly in economic stability, education, healthcare access and housing affordability.
The Source: Information in this story is from LawnStarter’s “2025’s Leading Cities for Quality of Life” analysis.