Washington DC Metro Climbs 'Best Places to Live' Rankings

WASHINGTON, DC — The D.C. metro area is now among the top five "Best Places to Live," according to new rankings out Tuesday from U.S. News and World Report. At No. 4, the region was behind Austin, Texas, at No. 1, followed by Denver, Colorado, and San Jose, California.

The report from U.S. News looked at the 100 most populous metro areas in the country and and graded them based on several factors, including the job market, affordability, schools, crime and more.

Washington D.C. saw some year-over-year improvement in the job market, with a lower unemployment rate and higher salary than comparable metro areas.

But the region climbed from No. 8 in the 2016 survey by remaining stable in other metrics, while other major metros fell, including Raleigh, North Carolina, and Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Washington was far ahead of neighboring metro areas. Richmond came in at No. 24 and Baltimore was at No. 73.

Here were the top 10 places to live in the country, according to the rankings:

1. Austin, TX

2. Denver, CO

3. San Jose, CA

4. Washington, DC

5. Fayetteville, AR

6. Seattle, WA

7. Raleigh & Durham, NC

8. Boston, MA

9. Des Moines, IA

10. Salt Lake City, UT

Austin jumped up one spot to No. 1, switching places with last year's top city of Denver. You can click here to see last year's rankings.

These were the categories used to come up with the rankings, along with how heavily they were weighted:

• Job Market Index (20 percent): A look at both the 12-month moving unemployment rate and the median salary, weighted equally.
• Value Index (25 percent): A comparison of the median annual household income against the blended annual cost of living, which looks at utility costs and taxes compared against mortgage rates and monthly rents.
• Quality of Life Index (30 percent): A look at how satisfied residents are with their daily lives, which takes into account crime rates, quality and availability of health care, quality of education, well-being and the commuter index.
• Desirability Index (15 percent): Based off of a nationwide Google Consumer Survey that asked people which city they would like to live in.
• Net Migration (10 percent): Looking at how fast people are moving in or out of major metro areas.

You can read the full methodology.

And here were the bottom 10 metro areas ranked by U.S. News & World Report:
100. San Juan, PR
99. Modesto, CA
98. Stockton, CA
97. Bakersfield, CA
96. Fresno, CA
95. New Orleans, LA
94. McAllen, TX
93. Memphis, TN
92. Miami, FL
91. Jackson, MS
90. Birmingham, AL

See the full rankings from U.S. News & World Report.

Includes reporting by Marc Torrence | Photo via unsplash