These 8 Pennsylvania Cities Among Best To Live, U.S. News Says

PENNSYLVANIA — Several cities across Pennsylvania received some big recognition from U.S. News and World report in their most recently published 2020 rankings.

Eight Pennsylvania cities — Harrisburg, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, Reading, York, Philadelphia, Allentown, and Scranton — made the publication's best places to live list. All eight are among the 13 largest cities by population in the Commonwealth. Six of those cities —Lancaster, Reading, York, Harrisburg, Allentown, and Philadelphia — comprised the best places to retire list.

Cities in the best places to live category were scored in several areas, including desirability, value, job market, quality of life, and net migration.

Overall, Harrisburg ranked as the top place to live in the state, with a 6.7 overall score. It received especially high marks in the "value" category, at 7.4.

It was followed by Lancaster at 6.6, whose quality of life was scored a 7.5. Philadelphia was sixth, with a 5.6 quality of life, but receiving higher marks for its job market.

To determine the best places to live, researchers took into consideration the job market, housing affordability, quality of life, desirability and net migration ratings, among other factors.

Cities on that list were also determined in part by public survey, taken five months after the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of respondents weighed in on what qualities they consider important when choosing where they’re going to put down roots.

The study looked at data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as its own rankings of the Best High Schools and Best Hospitals to compile the lists.

For the retirement rankings, U.S. News looked at measures including happiness, housing affordability, health care quality, taxes, desirability and job market ratings.

These measures were also weighted by the results of a nationwide public survey of people nearing retirement age (ages 45-59) and those who are retirement age (60 or older) to find out what matters most when deciding where to retire.

U.S. News also used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as its Best Hospitals rankings.

Nationally, Boulder, Colorado, debuted on the Best Places to Live ranking at No. 1 this year, while Denver held at No. 2, and Austin, Texas, fell from the top spot to No. 3.

The coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest may have had an impact on how people perceive some cities this year, researchers said. Desirability was the most significant factor in ranking decreases for hard-hit cities like Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York City and Washington, D.C.

See the full list of Best Places To Live.

This year's list of Best Places to Retire is dominated by Florida metro areas, largely due to affordable homes, low taxes and high ratings for happiness and desirability.

Increases in desirability and job market scores lifted Sarasota to No. 1 this year, overtaking Fort Myers, which fell to No. 2. Port. St. Lucie’s housing affordability score decreased slightly, but increases in desirability, job market and health care scores helped it jump two places to No. 3.

See the full list of Best Places To Retire.