CA Region Named No. 2 Best Place To Live In The U.S. For Families

CALIFORNIA — The San Jose area is the second-best place to live for families, according to a U.S. News and World Report ranking targeted at families looking to relocate.

The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area, largely contiguous with Silicon Valley, was one of 25 regions nationwide that made the ranking released Wednesday. The region jumped 11 spots compared to last year's rankings.

U.S. News says the San Jose area is a great place for families who prize education; calling it the No. 1 ranked metro area across the U.S. for college readiness among high schoolers.

But of course that comes at a notoriously expensive cost, with a median home price in excess of $1.5 million. On the flip side, the region's average salary is just under $100,000, well above the national average.

The region's nearly 2 million people live across some 2,700 square miles. San Jose itself is the third most populous city in California.

To score communities, U.S. News looked at overall affordability, quality of life and job market equity. Consideration was also given to the cost of living and average annual salary, the quality of high schools, average commute times, crime rates, and the area’s overall well-being and access to high-quality health care.

The top 25 communities in the ranking are:

1. Huntsville, Alabama
2. San Jose, California
3. Green Bay, Wisconsin
4. Fayetteville, Arkansas
5. Minneapolis-St. Paul
6. Des Moines, Iowa
7. Albany, New York
8. Grand Rapids, Michigan
9. Fort Wayne, Indiana
10. Lincoln, Nebraska
11. Madison, Wisconsin
12. Syracuse, New York
13. Pittsburgh
14. Omaha, Nebraska
15. Hickory, North Carolina
16. Ann Arbor, Michigan
17. Buffalo, New York
18. Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina
19. Portland, Maine
20. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
21. Rochester, New York
22. Washington, D.C.
23. Davenport-Bettendorf, Iowa, and Moline-Rock Island, Illinois (Quad Cities)
24. Cincinnati
25. Boise, Idaho