If I could move BACK to SF, I would but housing; whether renting or buying is just so costly and I'm not into having room mates so I purchased my condo on the EAST bay - 30 minute drive from SF on a GOOD DAY.

I refuse to believe Honolulu is the number 1 safest place to live in the U.S.
Fail.

My town is on the list. We left SF years ago because it was too pricey for us. Now we have our own little slice of heaven in a college town smack dab between SF and Tahoe.
Gotta say, the picture Forbes chose to display of Davis is not the best. A recent NY Times article does a better job!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/25/dining/tour-de-cluck-boomlet-a-survey-of-chicken-coops.html?pagewanted=all

Uhh, you would think that an article about geography could get the abbreviation for Nebraska correct. It is NE, not NB. Unless there is a Lincoln in New Brunswick and New Brunswick is somehow now a part of the US, then my bad.

Nashua is on the list (number 4) and has been on many of those lists over time. It's nice, but I find it amusing since I have been here for 30 years and never cared about most of the features that make the city so wonderful! (Moved here for work -- from Michigan, unemployment capital of North America -- and never looked back, but it's work that has kept me here, not culture, proximity to Boston, nature, or any of the rest of it...)

Rochester, NY belongs on Best City to Live. I don't know who this Minnesota interloper is. Rochester, NY is walkable, bikeable, and highly affordable, with a ton of art, culture, and music for a city of its size. Our metropolitan area also has second largest economy in New York State outside the NYC area and it's growing. (The hell with Kodak.) Our real estate prices have always been stable (and low) and the housing boom and bust pretty much passed us by. You can buy a move-in ready Victorian in a trendy neighborhood for under $150,000 or even in the five digits.

Our Public Market has been recognized as the best large farmer's market in the country and we have tons of smaller ones as well. Our GLBTQ population is something like 60% higher than the national average and our annual Pride Parade is the second most popular in the state outside NYC. The RocWiki is one of the most active local wikis in the country (after Davis, CA). We also have tons and tons of parks and trees and not to mention a beach on Lake Ontario that looks like the ocean.

Syracuse and Utica we are not.

safety first? Kind of shocking, now that I think about this survey.

Elfay, I agree with you 100%. I was born and raised in Rochester and love all of the culture (artistic and ethnic)!
I think the weather may put some folks off, but the parks, performing arts, museums, universities, festivals, and of course the Public Market, more than make up for it.
Oh Ra-cha-cha, I still love you.

@SnowdogMaine: Statistics speak louder than your beliefs. Sorry.

How's the food in these places?

@Bowtruckle.Liz The food in Portland is the best I've ever had, (including New York City) and you pay half, if not a third, of what you'd pay in a larger city. It's the most food-obsessed place I've ever been. Plus there's the largest park in the country ten minutes from downtown if you want to go hike it all off.
But please don't move here; there are no jobs.

Boise!!! I left Boise due to my husband's transfer and I miss it SO much. Fabulous, and yes safe, city. :)

Colorado is horrible. Whatever you do, do NOT move here :-)

@Zimthaus - agreed on both food and jobs here in Portland! Moved back here 4 years ago while a grad student and after graduating 2 years ago with a PhD and an MSW, respectively, me and my partner cannot find a job here to save our lives. We gave up and started looking outside the area more than a year ago to no avail as well, so now we are experiencing my favorite city while having no money to really take advantage of everything. That said, Portland's got an amazing list of free things to do during the summer and all year long!

Well, if employment is your first priority, the entire U.S. is pretty much out of the question at present. Just sayin.

But that's not the reason I'm posting here. After working my way through all the relevant links, I discovered I can't read the article associated with the top cities for design because one MUST login to fb to do so. Really?

I'm running into this obstacle more & more frequently and I won't even attempt to list all the negativity it evokes. Suffice it to say it is BEYOND FRUSTRATING. Hear me when I say, I.do.not.have.a.fb.acct.nor.will.I.ever.have.one.

Please do tell...WHO DIED & LEFT FACEBOOK IN CHARGE?

um. Followed the link to see the full list and descriptions, but the grammar is horrible. Must question the authenticity of the source for this article. And no, I'm not disgruntled, I live in one of the top rated cities, though it is "In fact, it is one of the expensive cities to stay and live within the United States"?

I have to say you have hit one of my biggests irritants. Since when did America come to mean only t he USA? I live in America too, however my house is in southern Ontario, Canada. I don't live in Toronto, but think it is likely one of the very best cities in America to live in. Semantics matter.

They do vacuum the streets clean in Borsie but we've also had a month and a half of freakishly hot dry weather and a dust storm last week. Compared to CA the culture here is positively stifling and if I could afford it I'd move back there today. Without irrigation the natural condition of the snake river valley is sagebrush desert, the mountains are beautiful but harsh. Weigh the pro's and con's carefully before you relocate. This would be a pretty good place to raise kids and property is very affordable, especially in the outlying areas. People are fairly nice but not terribly easy to get close to. If you're single, not religious, liberal and not terribly outgoing be prepared to spend a lot of time on the internet when you're not at work : /

@nereid: I'm so glad you also noticed how poorly written that article was! I thought I was just being overly judgmental....glad to know I'm not alone.

@BELLA753 - Totally!

Why isn't weather one of the poll questions? Do people really move to a place because it's considered safe? Why are there so many of us in South Florida then?

Love living in Madison!

While my lovely city is listed, I find these "Top Cities" lists to be completely subjective and non-scientific. Data is based on whatever the person who designed the list deems important. For example, if I decide hot dog stands make a city a fantastic place to live, my list would judge cities based on the number and availability of hot dog stands, and my "Best City" may not include more vital criteria such as hospitals per capita. In other words, these lists are totally based on opinion, and is not something that a real statistician would bother with.

@Chartreuse: I know, and statistically, Honolulu is not the safest city in the United States. So it's still a fail. Thanks.

I've been to Rochester and I can't really see a reason to ever go back since we have no friends there any more.

I wouldn't mind going back for Wegman's, though. Price Chopper is no where near as awesome as Wegman's!

Boulder is always in the top of everything-
Skinniest city, smartest city, happiest city.
It is pretty nice, but only if you have been one of the lucky ones to have purchased a house about 15 years back and live somewhere nice like Mapelton Hill where many members of city council live and have been successful at doing things like building a moat around their neighborhood to keep traffic and high density housing out. (BTW, these are all things they keep telling Boulder to embrace to preserve open space). Unfortunately, Boulder is being ruined by it's own success. Last time I was there, it had gotten very crowded and heaps and heaps of Californians were moving there with attitudes about how much better they all were because they were from California where they did it better than little 'ol Boulder. Lol.

I always have to ask, but for who? As a black woman in an interracial relationship and with a biracial child (soon to be children), would these be best cities for us? This is a diverse world so I feel like sometimes they need to remember some places are only nice if you are white american/caucasian. I have heard some horror stories or how some people think their city is great and never noticed a problem because it's not diverse, but let a minority move in and all hell breaks loose. Because this country is moving like a hare in technology and like a turtle in tolerance and acceptance, I actually have to do a separate search for places to live for biracial families