Where Americans most want to live
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New York, Los Angeles and Miami came out on top in an open-ended survey asking Americans where in the U.S. they'd most like to live.
Why it matters: The results show how Americans perceive different cities, with some intriguing differences when people are asked about where they want to live versus where the best job opportunities are.
Driving the news: The findings are from the 2025 America's Best Cities report by Resonance, a marketing and branding firm for cities and destinations.
- As part of that report, Resonance worked with Ipsos to ask about 2,000 respondents nationwide to name the top three U.S. towns or cities they'd most like to live in someday.
Zoom in: After the top three came San Diego in fourth, Chicago in fifth and Las Vegas in sixth.
- Seattle, Boston, San Francisco and Phoenix round out the top 10.
Zoom out: Resonance also asked about places where people saw the best job opportunities, with some notable divergence from where people want to live.
- For example, Miami and San Diego both ranked highly as places where people want to live, but didn't even crack the top 10 for cities where Americans think the jobs are.
- Dallas came in third for economic opportunities, but 12th as a desirable place to live.
Between the lines: The results reflect cities' perception and image, not necessarily reality.
- In actuality, Texas and Florida are home to several of the fastest-growing U.S. cities, per census data — though New York City is still gaining the most people overall.
The big picture: Resonance's own "best cities" rankings put New York, L.A. and Chicago on top, based on hard metrics like GDP and unemployment as well as softer indicators, like TripAdvisor and Instagram activity.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the final reference to Resonance, the firm behind the Best Cities ranking (not Prosperity).
