While D.C.鈥檚 spot only changed a little, the COVID-19 pandemic had a huge effect on U.S. 草莓传媒 and World Report鈥檚 annual Best Places to Live list.
The District edged up from No. 30 last year to No. 28 on , while Boulder, Colorado, topped the list.
Devon Thorsby, U.S. 草莓传媒鈥� real estate editor, told 草莓传媒 the list was compiled on statistics on the cost of living, the job market, health care, schools, crime rates and commuting, as well as surveys gauging people鈥檚 desire to live in or move to a certain place. And it was D.C.鈥檚 job market 鈥� the best in the nation, Thorsby said 鈥� that kept it afloat.
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鈥淭he government positions and office positions, which were easier to transfer to work-from-home roles when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, really helped keep Washington from seeing unemployment reach levels that a lot of other major cities faced throughout 2020 and into this year as well,鈥� Thorsby said.
The loss of jobs was key to some epic tumbles: Boston fell 13 spots to No. 31, while San Diego plummeted 52 spots to No. 97. In both cases, the loss of jobs was key.
And places dependent on tourism took major hits as well 鈥� Honolulu fell 42 spots to No. 113, while Las Vegas tumbled 50 spots to No. 137.
鈥�2020 was a very hard year,鈥� Thorsby said. She hoped that as vaccinations allow cities to reopen and people to resume traveling, the most disrupted cities will be able to recover.
Thorsby said U.S. 草莓传媒 changes up the survey every year, as well as the weighting they give scores in different categories, to make sure the poll reflects what people consider most important when choosing a city to live in. And for this year鈥檚 survey, they saw some changed priorities.
鈥淲e do see the data reflect a lot of things,鈥� she said. 鈥淒esirability for maybe the most crowded major cities drops a bit this year.鈥�
She said it was possible that desire will bounce back in the next few years, but then again, a different U.S. 草莓传媒 survey indicates it might not.
The survey wasn鈥檛 used in compiling the Best Places to Live list, but Thorsby said it found 鈥渁 third of Americans say that the pandemic has changed their preference for where to live,鈥� and that 鈥渙ver 11% said that they have relocated or plan to relocate, at least temporarily, due to reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic.鈥�
鈥淎nd of those who indicated that they’ve relocated, or plan to,鈥� she added, 鈥渙ver 57% say that they’ll move from a population that’s more dense to a less populated area.鈥�
