Carmel recognized as ‘Top 100 Best Place to Live in 2025’ by Livability.com

Livability.com recently unveiled its highly anticipated 2025 Top 100 Best Places to Live list, showcasing the nation’s most vibrant and livable small to mid-sized cities, and Carmel has earned a coveted spot among the nation’s most livable cities.

Livability.com’s annual ranking is unique in its focus on small to mid-sized cities and its emphasis on affordability. In a time when rising costs are a major concern for many Americans, Carmel’s inclusion on this list underscores its commitment to creating a community where people can thrive.

“Our ‘Top 100 Best Places to Live in the U.S.’ list is a data-driven collection of what we consider to be the best small to mid-sized places to live in,” Livability.com Editor-in-Chief Amanda Ellis said. “It’s the only list out there truly honing in on affordability, lauding the amazing, accessible cities across the country other than our large U.S. metros, which often get more recognition. As Americans face shifting economic conditions in a year wrought with inflation, evolving work dynamics and a growing desire for a better quality of life, our ‘Top 100 Best Places to Live’ list celebrates the cities where Americans are creating dream careers, building families, launching businesses and leading meaningful lives.”

For several years running, Carmel has ranked within the Top 10 best LivScores on the Livability Top 100 Best Places to Live list. This year, Carmel stands out for its excellent scores in the housing and cost of living, health, and economy categories. Carmel also received the highest score of any city in the housing and cost of living category and the second-highest overall LivScore.

Livability.com partnered with Applied Geographic Solutions (AGS) to analyze data from over 2,000 U.S. cities with populations between 75,000 and 500,000. The platform’s intuitive filtering system allows users to refine the list by category importance, median home value, population size and region. Interactive maps further enhance the user experience, providing a visual exploration of each city’s attributes.

“This is the second year we have weighted all eight data categories equally within our algorithm,” Ellis said. “In the past, we prioritized categories we felt were most important to our readers. But in recent years, we wanted to give readers even more control as priorities are shifting for many American families. By equally weighting all criteria, we’re allowing each individual to filter and rank the categories that matter most to them, creating a personalized Top 100 ranking of the best places to live for themselves.”