100 Most Liveable Cities in America (2026)

These are the 100 most liveable cities in America according to Liveable.com. The methodology they use to measure livability and quality of life with an emphasis on affordability factors such a city's economy, job opportunities, housing affordability, cost of living, and overall quality of life. They specifically exclude cities with average home prices over $500,000 and the minimum population cutoff for cities considered is 75,000.

The factors used to rank cities in this ranking differs from the U.S. News ranking of the Top 250 places to live in America in that the latter ranking doesn't take affordability and cost of living into consideration and it has a minimum population cutoff of 25,000 as opposed to 75,000 with this ranking. This minimum population crtieria hurts Mississippi in particular because the state has only 2 cities (Jackson and Gulfport) that meet/exceed the 75,000 mimimum population threshold. Although the ranking only lists the "city proper" population of each city it takes into account the metrics of the overall urban designated area of a city which helps boost the ranking of some of the cities on this list which would rank much lower if only the city limits of the city was considered.

Listed below is where all the cities that are located in SEC states rank nationally on the list along with their population total listed

1) Huntsville, AL - 233,760
3) Sugar Land, TX - 111,222
5) Plano, TX - 288,414
6) Birmingham, AL - 206,100
9) Round Rock, TX - 127,114
10) New Braunfels, TX - 104,553
11) Edmond, OK - 98,112
21) Charleston, SC - 162,606
22) Arlington, TX - 401,283
25) College Station, TX - 125,692
29) Midland, TX - 141,252
38) Greenville, SC - 82,718
43) Tampa, FL - 419,180
55) Fayetteville, AR - 101,563
58) Knoxville, TN - 205,542
60) Tyler, TX - 107,365
61) Murfreesboro, TN - 172,597
63) Abilene, TX - 129,495
66) Gainesville, FL - 145,581
68) Athens, GA - 129,488
71) Lexington, KY - 331,459
73) Chattanooga, TN - 195,075
74) Columbia, MO - 132,271
78) Orlando, FL - 348,808
81) Daytona Beach, FL - 91,141
82) Columbia, SC - 147,598
85) Springfield, MO - 174,718
87) Little Rock, AR - 206,153
88) Savannah, GA - 157,806
89) Tulsa, OK - 421,873
91) Clarksville, TN - 187,143
92) St. Louis, MO - 281,376
95) Lafayette, LA - 126,663
96) Macon, GA - 158,020
98) Mobile, AL - 204,766
99) Augusta, GA - 203,109


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