Where to live in the United States

We track 90 cities in the United States, including New York City, Los Angeles and Washington. Average temperatures run from 3°C to 25°C. We estimate a couple needs €3,561 to €4,640 a month to live centrally. The United States sits in our low to medium tax tier. For foreigners, long-term residency is possible, with conditions.

See which cities in the United States rank best for you

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Tax tier: Low to medium; Moderate personal income tax
Languages: English; English everywhere
Safety: 52/100; country-level
Healthcare: 70/100; country-level
Internet: ~220 Mbps; median fixed broadband

The 90 cities we track

City	Size	Setting	Avg temp	Rain a year	Est. cost a month
Albany	smaller	near the coast	11°C	978 mm	€3,765
Albuquerque	mid-sized	inland	15°C	207 mm	€4,066
Anaheim	mid-sized	coastal	18°C	319 mm	€3,983
Anchorage	mid-sized	coastal	3°C	907 mm	€3,949
Atlanta	mid-sized	inland	17°C	1,318 mm	€4,048
Austin	large	inland	21°C	869 mm	€4,161
Bakersfield	mid-sized	near the coast	21°C	138 mm	€3,994
Baltimore	mid-sized	coastal	14°C	1,143 mm	€4,072
Baton Rouge	smaller	near the coast	21°C	1,665 mm	€3,907
Birmingham	smaller	inland	18°C	1,482 mm	€3,881
Boise	smaller	inland	12°C	295 mm	€3,913
Boston	mid-sized	coastal	11°C	1,166 mm	€4,092
Buffalo	mid-sized	inland	10°C	951 mm	€3,929
Charleston	smaller	coastal	20°C	1,303 mm	€3,812
Charlotte	mid-sized	inland	17°C	1,116 mm	€4,150
Chattanooga	smaller	inland	16°C	1,475 mm	€3,867
Cheyenne	smaller	inland	8°C	342 mm	€3,688
Chicago	large	inland	11°C	991 mm	€4,338
Cincinnati	mid-sized	inland	13°C	1,104 mm	€3,962
Cleveland	mid-sized	inland	11°C	943 mm	€3,990
Colorado Springs	mid-sized	inland	10°C	357 mm	€4,029
Columbus	mid-sized	inland	12°C	982 mm	€4,150
Corpus Christi	mid-sized	coastal	23°C	845 mm	€3,965
Dallas	large	inland	20°C	938 mm	€4,215
Denver	mid-sized	inland	10°C	377 mm	€4,111
Des Moines	smaller	inland	11°C	876 mm	€3,896
Detroit	mid-sized	inland	11°C	864 mm	€4,089
El Paso	mid-sized	inland	19°C	178 mm	€4,098
Fort Lauderdale	smaller	coastal	25°C	1,644 mm	€3,869
Fort Worth	large	inland	20°C	852 mm	€4,167
Fresno	mid-sized	inland	19°C	258 mm	€4,059
Grand Rapids	smaller	inland	10°C	943 mm	€3,880
Green Bay	smaller	inland	8°C	750 mm	€3,772
Hartford	smaller	near the coast	11°C	1,140 mm	€3,796
Honolulu	mid-sized	coastal	24°C	1,156 mm	€3,983
Houston	large	coastal	21°C	1,301 mm	€4,313
Huntsville	smaller	inland	17°C	1,466 mm	€3,897
Indianapolis	mid-sized	inland	12°C	1,051 mm	€4,145
Jackson	smaller	inland	19°C	1,487 mm	€3,838
Jacksonville	large	coastal	21°C	1,288 mm	€4,168
Juneau	smaller	coastal	6°C	1,939 mm	€3,561
Kansas City	mid-sized	inland	13°C	986 mm	€4,036
Knoxville	smaller	inland	16°C	1,236 mm	€3,876
Las Vegas	mid-sized	inland	21°C	102 mm	€4,088
Lexington-Fayette	mid-sized	inland	14°C	1,213 mm	€3,964
Little Rock	smaller	inland	17°C	1,425 mm	€3,887
Los Angeles	large	coastal	18°C	356 mm	€4,401
Louisville	mid-sized	inland	14°C	1,192 mm	€4,084
Lubbock	mid-sized	inland	17°C	429 mm	€3,923
Madison	mid-sized	inland	9°C	851 mm	€3,943
Memphis	mid-sized	inland	17°C	1,354 mm	€4,086
Miami	mid-sized	coastal	25°C	1,535 mm	€4,040
Milwaukee	mid-sized	inland	9°C	848 mm	€4,066
Minneapolis	mid-sized	inland	8°C	746 mm	€4,010
Mobile	smaller	coastal	20°C	1,738 mm	€3,869
Montgomery	smaller	inland	19°C	1,401 mm	€3,880
Nashville	mid-sized	inland	16°C	1,283 mm	€4,101
New Haven	smaller	coastal	12°C	1,185 mm	€3,809
New Orleans	mid-sized	coastal	21°C	1,715 mm	€3,989
New York City	major	coastal	13°C	1,203 mm	€4,640
Oklahoma City	mid-sized	inland	17°C	882 mm	€4,099
Omaha	mid-sized	inland	11°C	770 mm	€4,040
Orlando	mid-sized	near the coast	23°C	1,288 mm	€3,975
Philadelphia	large	coastal	14°C	1,112 mm	€4,245
Phoenix	large	inland	24°C	171 mm	€4,254
Pittsburgh	mid-sized	inland	12°C	978 mm	€3,958
Portland	mid-sized	near the coast	12°C	1,057 mm	€4,091
Providence	smaller	coastal	11°C	1,223 mm	€3,876
Raleigh	mid-sized	near the coast	17°C	1,161 mm	€4,038
Reno	mid-sized	inland	12°C	211 mm	€3,933
Richmond	smaller	near the coast	16°C	1,139 mm	€3,906
Rochester	smaller	inland	10°C	865 mm	€3,893
Sacramento	mid-sized	near the coast	17°C	454 mm	€4,053
Salt Lake City	smaller	inland	11°C	406 mm	€3,897
San Antonio	large	inland	22°C	791 mm	€4,240
San Diego	large	coastal	17°C	255 mm	€4,225
San Francisco	mid-sized	coastal	14°C	815 mm	€4,133
San Jose	large	coastal	16°C	387 mm	€4,166
Santa Fe	smaller	inland	11°C	351 mm	€3,740
Savannah	smaller	coastal	20°C	1,252 mm	€3,831
Seattle	mid-sized	coastal	11°C	975 mm	€4,123
Spokane	smaller	inland	10°C	439 mm	€3,908
St. Louis	mid-sized	inland	14°C	1,028 mm	€3,943
Syracuse	smaller	inland	10°C	1,034 mm	€3,827
Tallahassee	smaller	coastal	21°C	1,558 mm	€3,886
Tampa	mid-sized	coastal	23°C	1,265 mm	€4,012
Tucson	mid-sized	inland	22°C	261 mm	€4,059
Tulsa	mid-sized	inland	16°C	995 mm	€4,011
Washington	mid-sized	coastal	14°C	1,093 mm	€4,101
Wichita	mid-sized	inland	15°C	786 mm	€4,004

Source: City size from GeoNames, temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages), rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals), coast distance from Natural Earth. Cost is our model estimate for a couple living centrally.

Taxes

The United States sits in our low to medium tax tier: moderate personal income tax. The tier applies to every city here, and couples who cap tax below it will not see these cities in their results.

Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.

Residency and visas

Possible, with conditions. Realistic long-term US residency runs through employer-sponsored or extraordinary-ability green cards or the EB-5 investor route; there is no passive-income, sufficient-means, or retirement visa for self-funded applicants.

The cheapest self-funded routes we track for the United States:

Investment: about $800k (US EB-5 immigrant investor green card, USD 800,000 minimum in a Targeted Employment Area (vs USD 1,050,000 standard); figures already in USD; as of June 2026)

For short visits, 4 of 198 passports can enter visa-free, 42 can get an e-visa or visa on arrival and 152 need a visa in advance.

Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).

Moving here from

What our data says for a couple who both hold one of these passports: entry, residency, taxes, costs and the cities that rank first.

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