Are you willing to trade skyscrapers for a backyard? So many of us go back and forth on where we want to live: in a city with walkable access to restaurants, transportation, and fun things to do? Or in the suburbs with a big yard and more privacy? It looks like we can find a happy medium, with StorageCafe’s new list of the best suburban communities that feel like cities.
Part of that’s possible because the suburbs are transforming to less suburb-y designs, adopting urbanist principles that look at how residents interact with their built environment. In particular, housing design is paying more attention to how much people want to walk to cafes, bars, grocery stores, schools and work.
To create this list, StorageCafe looked at 912 U.S. cities with populations ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 attached to the 100 largest metropolitan areas. Desirable factors were considered, such as housing affordability and diversity, shopping and dining, as well as health, education, and transportation options—and even self-storage pricing since some may choose to maximize homespace by stowing things away.
Although the full list comprises 100 cities, we’re focused on the top 10 and the interesting result is that the only state that is replicated in the top 10 actually appears three times! That’s California, where many factors support a suburban lifestyle with access to larger cities nearby.
1. Edina, MN. Takeaway factoid: 40 percent of the housing stock consists of apartments that may support single workers or couples without families.
2. Falls Church, VA. Takeaway factoid: the median household income is over $155k.
3. Palo Alto, CA. Takeaway factoid: Real estate is pricy here, but less than 60 percent of people use their cars to get to work.
4. Franklin, TN. Takeaway factoid: Franklin offers great Victorian architecture and solid business infrastructure.
5. Venice, FL. Takeaway factoid: less than 50 percent of homes are single-family residences.
6. Suwanee, GA. Takeaway factoid: Suwanee gets high points for well-performing schools and mixed-use development.
7. Los Gatos, CA. Takeaway factoid: another San Jose suburb like Palo Alto above, it too has a great walkable downtown.
8. Burlingame, CA. Takeaway factoid: housing stock is split nearly equally between single-family homes and multifamily ones.
9. Lone Tree, CO. Takeaway factoid: this city had the highest life expectancy among all the suburbs in the study.
10. Burlington, MA. Takeaway factoid: affordable and walkable, this Boston suburb fares well.
For other things to take into consideration when choosing where to live, check out these cities with the most remote job listings, the best cities in the world to relocate to, and the cities with the most beautiful train stations.