Three Santa Monica neighborhoods have been featured in Niche’s latest rankings of the Best Places to Live in America. These include the areas of City Center, Wilshire/Montana, and Ocean Park.
Mid-City Los Angeles and two neighborhoods in Palo Alto — University South and Downtown North — also made the list.
Niche considered multiple factors, including cost of living; education; housing; diversity; crime and safety; health and fitness; nightlife; amenities; commutes; weather; and walkability.
Evidently, quality of life outweighed the high premium residents pay to live in many of these neighborhoods. The median Santa Monica home costs $2.3 million. In Palo Alto, it’s $3.18 million.
Below is a list of the 20 Best Places to Live in the U.S., according to Niche.
- Chesterbrook (Pennsylvania)
- Colonial Village (Virginia)
- Ardmore (Pennsylvania)
- Hyde Park - Spanishtown Creek (Florida)
- Penn Wynne (Pennsylvania)
- City Center (California)
- Cambridgeport (Massachusetts)
- North Quarter (Florida)
- Devon (Pennsylvania)
- Great Neck Gardens (New York)
- Barbour Island (Florida)
- Brookline (Massachusetts)
- Great Neck Plaza (New York)
- Princeton Junction (New Jersey)
- Mid-City (California)
- North Bethesda (Maryland)
- The Port (Massachusetts)
- University South (California)
- Riverside (Massachusetts)
- Audubon Park (Florida)
List and data were compiled by Niche and do not reflect statistics on all cities.