While big cities attract many people seeking economic opportunity, a new ranking shows how livability in 10 small cities across the U.S., with populations between 65,000 and 99,000, compares.
The highest ranking city in Indiana is Carmel, at number nine, with a 2.3 percent unemployment rate and housing costs that account for only 15.7 percent of the median household's annual income. According to SmartAsset, Carmel ranks well due to these factors, along with its health insurance rate, and poverty rate. Additionally, 2.1 percent of all establishments are related to entertainment, recreation, and the arts.
We compared each city across metrics like concentration of entertainment establishments, concentration of restaurants, concentration of bars, concentration of health care establishments, income inequality, median-home-value to median income ratio, housing cost as a percent of household income, percent of residents below the poverty line, unemployment rate, percent of residents with health insurance and average commute times.