1 RI Town Is Among Money's 50 Best Places To Live

RHODE ISLAND — One city in Rhode Island among the 50 Best Places to Live in America, according to a recent report from Money.

Money said the 50 places on the list, released earlier this month, offer affordability, good schools and strong job markets, and are places with “a palpable spirit, nurtured and sustained by engaged citizens and receptive public officials.”

In a departure from previous years, Money did not rank the places but instead grouped them into five categories highlighting their strengths: suburbs with soul, best-kept secrets, new boomtowns, not just college towns, and culture hubs.

In Rhode Island, Pawtucket was recognized in the Suburbs with Soul category. Money said the "historic mill town is artsy and affordable," adding that it's "a diverse city with a storied history."

Collectively, the cities and towns on the list are a "blueprint for the future," Money said.

The report is based on data on such things as the health of the job market, average housing costs, the percentage of residents living in poverty and the quality of public schools, as well as reader polls.

Providence has a population of just over 75,999, a median home listing price of just under $340,000, and an unemployment rate of 3.70 percent.

But, the editors acknowledged, things that make a town or a city worth living in can’t always be quantified.

To expand the report, Money also considered a breadth of research from public policy and advocacy groups, such as the American Planning Association, Brookings, Main Street America and the Project for Public Spaces, supplemented by data from Moody’s Analytics, SchoolDigger, Realtor.com, the St. Louis Federal Reserve, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and others.