Hunter
11/13/24
For the second year in a row, Iowa City has been named one of the top 100 places to live in the United States.
Livability is an online resource designed to help research communities. Editor in Chief Amanda Ellis says the process of picking 100 cities from a list of well over 2,000 is pretty intensely data driven.
The website looks at almost 100 data points that fall into eight different categories, and weighs them with a proprietary algorithm that scores all of the cities chosen with populations between 75,000 and half a million people.
Ellis cited a state-of-the-art health care system, high-quality education for all ages, and easy access to all kinds of amenities as factors placing Iowa City on the list.
The website lists the top 100 and allows visitors to filter the various scores by the data points they deem a priority.
Iowa City received a 2023 Livability Score of 695. In 2024, that number shot up to 748. The highest 2024 score belongs to Carmel, Indiana, with a score of 875.