Nashville Ranked 13th Best Place To Live By U.S. News, 80 Spots Ahead of Memphis

NASHVILLE, TN — The respected ranking brain trust at U.S. News & World Report has proclaimed Nashville the 13th Best Place to Live in the United States, up nine spots from last year's ranking.

Nashville was the only Tennessee city in the Top 40, far outpacing fellow Volunteer State cities Chattanooga (42), Knoxville (61) and Memphis (93). With Fayetteville, Ark. at fifth and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. at seventh, Nashville came in as the third best place in the South to live, unless one (incorrectly) counts Texas as part of the South. Austin was the top-ranked city.

"Music City is home to a community fiercely driven by a desire to create. Ask people what they do and it's likely they live in the area to help build something new like a health care information technology startup, an indie progressive rock band or a festival that celebrates all things tomatoes. This innovation positively influences the lives of residents in nearly every respect. The metro area has a blossoming job market and an exploding entertainment scene fueling an appetite (and thirst) for all things locally sourced and artisanal in craft – everything from handmade marshmallows to small batch gin," the magazine wrote, gilding the lily a bit, perhaps, but being very honest about the city's love of drinking, if a touch precious.

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The magazine ranked the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, calculating a total score based on a variety of inputs. The Job Market Index, counting for 20 percent of the final score, was calculated using unemployment rates and median incomes. The Value Index, accounting for 25 percent, compared cost of living to median household income. The Quality of Life Index, 30 percent of the score, used crime rates, quality and availability of health care, availability of quality education, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, and commute times. The Desirability Index — 10 percent of the final score —was based on results of a survey asking people where they'd most like to live. The final 15 percent of the score was based on Census Bureau data on net migration.

Nashville scored best on the net migration portion, as anyone who has been in the city for more than 18 months can attest and as anyone who arrived in the last 18 months can brag about. Nashville's lowest score came in Quality of Life, in large part because of lengthy commute times (see: net migration) and a higher-than-is-typical-for-its-size crime rate. See Nashville's full profile from U.S. News.

Bookending the aforementioned Austin and Fayetteville in the Top 5 were Denver, San Jose and Washington D.C. The cities ranked below Memphis were McAllen, Tex., New Orleans, Fresno, Cal., Bakersfield, Cal., Stockton, Cal., Modesto, Cal., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. See the full rankings here.

Image via Flickr user Ryan McGilchrist, used under Creative Commons