Sometimes you’re ready for a change to a new city, and sometimes that change is thrust upon you. Whether you’re carefully weighing your options to find the city where you want to live for the next 10 years or you’re trying to decide if a cross-country job offer is worth uprooting your life, there are a lot of factors to consider.
Once you’ve figured out which factors matter most to you when finding the right home, it then becomes a matter of fitting your needs and wants with your finances. “How many of these things can we check off within the budget that they’re wanting to stay in?” says Matt Curtis, a real estate broker in Madison, Alabama.
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How to Decide Where to Live
The U.S. News Best Places to Live ranking looks at key criteria for the 150 most populous metro areas in the U.S., in categories such as affordability, quality of life, job market, desirability and net migration. The scores in each category are weighted based on the results of a survey of roughly 3,000 U.S. residents, asking what they believe is the most important factor when choosing where to live.
For your own move, you may be focusing on the job market, or you may be most interested in finding a great neighborhood.
Here’s a breakdown of the most important factors to consider when moving:
— Cost of living.
— Job availability.
— Desirability and happiness.
— Crime.
— Quality of education.
— Commute.
— Quality and availability of health care.
Cost of Living
Whether you’re moving across the country or across town, the cost of living plays a major role in whether you’ll be able to live comfortably. Based on your salary, would you be able to afford monthly mortgage payments or rent, property taxes and utilities where you’re looking to move?
Depending on the reason for your move, you may consider a metro area with a lower cost of living to afford a home closer to work or your preferred type of home, as opposed to living on the outskirts of a pricier metro area.
“During my first chat with clients we are establishing budgets, home styles (and) size, timelines and ideal locales. I have had a few clients from out of the area become interested in the Baltimore market because of affordability and an influx of renovations in the area,” Jayde David, a Realtor with eXp Realty in the Baltimore area, wrote in an email.
For the Best Places to Live ranking, cost of living is calculated in the value index, which accounts for 25% of a metro area’s final score. It looks at how a metro area’s median household income compares to the median total cost of living, considering mortgage payments, rent, taxes and utilities.
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Job Availability or Flexibility
It might be a job that’s taking you to a new city, whether it’s because you need to be close to an office or because remote work options give you permanent location flexibility for the first time.
In a series of surveys of people who moved in 2021 and used mover booking network HireAHelper, roughly one-fifth of those who moved were influenced by the pandemic, and 37% of those were moving as a result of their ability to work remotely.
The Best Places to Live ranking weighs job market as 20% of the final score, considering average annual salary and area unemployment rate, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Desirability and Happiness
Your ability to be happy in a new city shouldn’t be overlooked.
If you love the amenities that come with a big city, selecting a small town outside a major metro area may not be the best choice for you. If you thrive in hot weather, Green Bay, Wisconsin, or Anchorage, Alaska, may not be the best place to move for work.
The Best Places to Live ranking looks at the desirability of a metro area, based on a SurveyMonkey survey of U.S. residents asking where they would like to live, which makes up 17.5% of the final score. It also considers the overall well-being of a metro area’s residents, based on the Sharecare Community Well-Being Index, which asks people about their happiness, sense of community pride and sense of security where they live (6.5% of the final score). Additionally, net migration to a metro area over a five-year period, based on U.S. Census Bureau data, accounts for 5% of the final score, which shows whether people are acting on a desire to move to a specific place.
Even after you’ve picked an area that appeals to you, you still have a variety of choices, from the city center to a quieter neighborhood, the suburbs or even the outskirts of the area.
“Budget and lifestyle are going to determine the areas for my clients,” David says. “A (single-family home) with a yard? We will look to the outskirts of the city. Looking for a starter home with a high walk score near bars? Let’s look downtown.”
Crime
Crime is often a concern when people look to move to a city or neighborhood they’re unfamiliar with. The idea of being the victim of a crime is a very real fear for many people, and even prevalent property crimes, like car theft, can have additional ramifications, like higher average car insurance rates.
However, crime statistics rarely show the full picture, often fail to reveal built-in bias and shouldn’t be taken at face value. Data available online or calling the local police department can help provide some information, but Curtis advises you visit the area and experience it for yourself.
“It’s also important to go back in person a few times if those things are important to the buyer,” Curtis says. Visit in the evening, during the day on a weekend and around the time kids get out of school on a weekday to get a better feel for the neighborhood.
Property crime, violent crime and murder rates are a part of the methodology for the Best Places to Live ranking because consumers often place an emphasis on this information, but it remains a smaller portion of the overall score. The crime score for a metro area accounts for 8.2% of a place’s total score.
Quality of Education
If you’re moving with school-age children or plan to have children, education likely weighs heavily on your mind. Most metro areas offer a variety of schooling options for children, and it’s important to look closely at the information about a school that will help your student succeed.
The Best Places to Live ranking pulls data on college readiness among high school students from the U.S. News Best High Schools ranking and accounts for 6.5% of the final score. When narrowing down neighborhoods, the Best High Schools ranking can help you see a more holistic view of a school, including graduation rate, performance of underserved student groups and more.
[Read: 12 Packing Tips for Moving to Your New Home.]
Commute
With more people than ever working their office job from home, the commute into an office matters less than it did before. Still, the average commute to work can be a good signifier of the prevalence of traffic when it comes to getting around running errands and popping into the office.
Curtis recommends looking at the distance to a preferred grocery store, gym, restaurants, running trails or anywhere else that will be frequent haunts once you’re moved in. Some people don’t mind a long drive or sitting in a bit of traffic for one or two activities, while others may consider too far a drive to a favorite grocer to be a dealbreaker.
Average morning commute for a metro area contributes 5.5% to the total score in the Best Places to Live ranking.
Quality and Availability of Health Care
If you’re at the peak of health, you may not place priority on living within 10 minutes of a major hospital, but it can be a concern if you find yourself not near a health care system you feel you can trust.
Curtis says that unless a person moving to the area has an existing condition requiring regular health care, proximity to a highly rated hospital or a preferred physician rarely comes up in a conversation about buying a home. “Unfortunately for most it’s probably an afterthought,” he says.
If you’re moving to a new metro area and you consider your health care a priority, do more than a quick search to be confident in the care available to you. “If it’s a growing city, sometimes health care availability doesn’t keep up,” Curtis says, noting that in areas with a booming population, some doctors’ offices may not be accepting new patients.
Best Places to Live pulls from the U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings for proximity to quality health care, which accounts for 3.3% of the final score.
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How to Decide Where to Live originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 11/29/22: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
