According to U.S. News and World Report, Boulder tops the Best Places to Live rankings for the second consecutive year. The rankings, which were released last week, have Fort Collins/Loveland in the 17th spot, down from fifth last year. Colorado Springs (No. 6) and Denver (No. 14) also cracked the top 20.

U.S. News & World Report ranks the country’s 150 most populous metropolitan areas based on criteria such as quality of life, affordability, job prospects, net migration ratings and desirability. Data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau, the FBI, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sharecare’s Community Well-Being Index and U.S. News’ own internal resources.

In a statement accompanying the report, U.S. News real estate editor Devon Thorsby said this year they were looking at how the most populous metro areas in the U.S. fared for much of the coronavirus pandemic and seeing how far they’ll need to come to recover. Many metro areas that saw unemployment levels skyrocket in 2020 fell in the rankings, but those with greater employment stability tended to fare well.

Other highlights from the report include:

·       Boulder holds the top spot due to high Quality of Life, Job Market and Desirability scores, despite its housing affordability (Value score) being on the lower end of the 150 metro areas ranked according to the report.

·       While Boulder lagged other cities with a value score of six, its quality-of-life score of 8.2 was second only behind Ann Arbor, Michigan.

·       Boulder also did well in the job market and desirability categories, scoring above an eight in both categories. The city's overall score was 7.6.

·       Coming in just a few spots behind, Colorado Springs scored a perfect 10 in desirability, while scoring well for the job market, quality of life and value. Overall, it scored 7.3.

While Boulder maintained its position despite housing affordability challenges, Denver dropped 12 places from second on the list last year, in part because of rising costs of living.

Of the top 20 cities to call home, Colorado is home to four of them. If you’re ready to check out what these areas have to offer, contact Metrowest today – we’d love to show you around!