What makes an American city one of the best to live in?
According to 24/7 Wall St., a Delaware corporation that runs a financial news and opinion company, it's low crime rates, employment growth, housing affordability and various other factors.
The company looked at 550 U.S. cities with a population of 65,000 or more, and based on the aforementioned factors, determined the 50 best to live in.
The South is well-represented, but only one Georgia city made it on the final list.
Johns Creek, in northeast Fulton County, landed at No. 3.
"While Georgia generally fares worse than most states in many social and economic measures," 24/7 Wall St. wrote, "Johns Creek residents benefit from high incomes, low poverty, high levels of education, and plenty of amenities."
Among those amenities is the availability of restaurants. Johns Creek (population 76,728) has the second highest concentration of restaurants in the country — about 630 for every 100,000 residents.
Education and income also helped Johns Creek land in the top five.
"Nearly 67% of adults in Johns Creek have at least a bachelor's degree, more than twice the nationwide corresponding education attainment rate and one of the highest of any city" the study shows.
And the city's median annual household income "is nearly $100,000, roughly double the state’s median income."
According to 24/7 Wall St.'s methodology, it "considered the roughly 550 cities that the U.S. Census Bureau reported as having populations more than 65,000 residents in 2014. Only the top performing city in each county was considered in our ranking. Data were collected in nine major categories: crime, demography, economy, education, environment, health, housing, infrastructure, and leisure." For more on the methodology, click here.
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