The Best Large U.S. City to Live In Is …

Jul 16, 2019

A new survey from WalletHub has crowned Virginia Beach, Va., as the 2019 choice for the best big city to live in.

The survey studied the nation’s 62 largest cities and used 56 key metrics, including real estate opportunities and the quality of life standards, to determine the best location for urban dwellers. Virginia Beach ranked first among cities, and also scored first place for the highest homeownership rate (63.85 percent), the lowest share of residents living in poverty (eight percent) and the fewest violent crimes per 1,000 residents (1.38 percent).

Rounding out WalletHub’s top 10 best large cities to live in were Austin, Seattle, San Diego, Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York, San Jose, Honolulu and Portland. Detroit ranked last among the cities studied by WalletHub, and it also had the highest number of residents living in poverty (37.9 percent, which is 4.7 times higher than Virginia Beach’s level).

Wichita, Kan., was ranked first for the nation’s lowest housing costs–Los Angeles ranked last–and the shortest average commute time–New York City ranked last. New York City also ranked second to last with the lowest homeownership rate, with only Miami having a smaller share of homeowners.

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Phil Hall

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Jul 16, 2019

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