Seattle Is Nation's Second-Most Livable Big City
Seattle nearly topped the list of most livable big cities in America, according to a new report by WalletHub, coming in second behind only Virginia Beach, Virginia, and beating out Pittsburgh, San Diego, Colorado Springs and Austin.
WalletHub evaluated the 62 largest U.S. cities for 50 key metrics in five categories: affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life and safety. The data included quality of public school systems, job opportunities, income growth, life expectancy, median annual property taxes and average commute time.
Seattle got to the No. 2 spot largely on the rank of its economy — the best in the nation for finding a top-quality job or running a top-quality business — and that the city was also top in education and health.
Those top rankings do not come cheap: Among 62 large cities, Seattle is No. 50 in terms of affordability. The most affordable city of any size is Oklahoma City. New York is the least affordable.
Last on the list of large cities in terms of livability? Detroit, which came in just below Memphis, St. Louis and Baltimore.
