The ‘Best Places to Live’ May Not Be the Best Places to Live
The link between the popularity of cities and economic growth has been severed. Some of the most vibrant metropolises in the U.S. are actually shedding people.
Chicago and other Midwestern cities are growing while still losing population.
Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images North AmericaNewly released 2020 Census data give us a better sense of where Americans think the best places to live are. Cities such as Phoenix, Dallas, Houston and Las Vegas continue to be popular, maintaining the strong population growth that’s defined them for the last half-century. Others, such as Buffalo and Cincinnati, have reversed decades-long declines in population, leading to proud claims of urban revival. Still more, such as Detroit and St. Louis, continued to lose people as they have for the last 70 years.
What’s also clear from the data, though, is that population growth may no longer be the best way to measure the health of U.S. cities. What look like the “best places to live” may not, in fact, be the best places to live.