Methodology

America’s Best Cities Methodology

How we ranked America’s Best Cities in 2024

In order to rank the performance and perception of America’s best cities in 2024, Resonance analyzed the principal cities of metropolitan statistical areas with populations of more than 500,000 (according to the U.S. Census, American Community Survey 2021) to determine the Top 100 cities by using a combination of core statistics and user-generated data from online sources such as Google, Tripadvisor and Instagram to measure quality of place when it comes to experiential factors. This blend of data led to the creation of Resonance’s proprietary Place PowerTM Score, the foundation of all our Best Cities rankings.

So how does Resonance choose the metrics to effectively measure an urban region’s performance relative to its competitors?

While many factors shape our perception of urban regions as desirable places to live, work or visit, Resonance’s proprietary Place PowerTM Score rankings are focused on the shared factors that demonstrate moderate to strong correlations with the performance of urban regions when it comes to attracting prime age population (age 25 – 44), visitor expenditure and/or business formation.

Based on our ongoing analysis, these factors are an eclectic mix that ranges from the number of Fortune 500 companies and ease of airport connectivity to the number of nightlife and outdoor recreation experiences and the volume of check-ins on Facebook and mentions on Instagram. These factors can change and evolve over time, and so we have continually updated our methodology to reflect these shifts. Case in point: we have added factors like Average Rent and Cost of Living to this year’s index and removed inputs like Weather and Safety to more accurately represent the latest verified drivers of talent, investment and tourism to a city.

This year, we’ve regrouped our previous six categories (Place, Promotion, Product, Programming, People and Prosperity) into three larger pillars that we utilize in our work with clients—Livability, Lovability and Prosperity—to define each city’s relative Place PowerTM Score. As part of our new partnership with Ipsos (see page 2 of the 2024 America’s Best Cities report) we combined the performance data of the subcategories that comprise our overall Livability, Lovability and Prosperity indices with perception data reflecting the opinions of 2,000 U.S. adults on three distinct questions:

1. Thinking about places across the United States, including small towns and large cities, what are the Top 3 towns or cities you would most like to live in some day? (Livability)
2. Thinking about places across the United States, including small towns and large cities, what are the Top 3 towns or cities you would most like to visit in the next 12 – 24 months? (Lovability)
3. Thinking about places across the United States, including small towns and large cities, what 3 towns or cities do you believe currently offer the best job opportunities? (Prosperity)

By utilizing an open-ended question methodology, we ensure that we are comprehensive in capturing the destinations that are top-of-mind to survey participants and that respondents are not limited to a predetermined list of cities that we present. The responses to these questions were aggregated and coded to benchmark the perception equivalent of our performance results, creating a true balance across our three overall indices of Lovability, Livability and Prosperity.