Here’s Why These Cities are America’s Top 100 of 2024

New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas are America's top 5 Best Cities – access the detailed report here.

Building upon what has been referred to by Bloomberg as “the most comprehensive study of its kind,” the incorporation of perception data creates a more thorough evaluation of cities to explore what a city offers versus how it is perceived by the broader population.

The new partnership with Resonance Consultancy builds upon Ipsos’ experience conducting perception research for destinations around the globe, including countries, regions, cities and attractions, and together we will be able to help destinations uncover gaps in performance vs. perception.

Through collaborative counsel, our teams will highlight the opportunity for destinations to address perception gaps across various stakeholder groups, positioning them to attract visitors, talent and residents more efficiently and effectively.

The perception data included in this year’s America’s Best Cities Report reflects the opinions of 2,000 U.S. adults on three distinct questions:

1. Thinking about places across the United States, including small towns and large cities, what are the Top 3 towns or cities you would most like to live in some day?
2. Thinking about places across the United States, including small towns and large cities, what are the Top 3 towns or cities you would most like to visit in the next 12 – 24 months?
3. Thinking about places across the United States, including small towns and large cities, what 3 towns or cities do you believe currently offer the best job opportunities?

The responses to these questions were aggregated and coded to identify the most desirable destinations to live, visit or pursue a career across the U.S. By utilizing an open-ended question methodology, we ensure that we are comprehensive in capturing the destinations that are top-of-mind to survey participants and that respondents are not limited to a predetermined list of cities that we present.

This resulted in a mix of large cities as well as small towns that were provided by respondents, demonstrating the diversity of preferences amongst the U.S. population.

This methodology and large sample size also provides us with the flexibility to dive deeper into the data to understand the locations that are preferred by different demographic groups. We have the ability to explore the data by age groups, by region, by educational attainment and a variety of other factors that will be of value for destinations seeking to understand gaps in perception vs. reality as they develop their marketing and communications strategies.

Longer-term, this data will be stored in a longitudinal database allowing us to evaluate how perceptions of destinations are shifting over time with various demographics, providing a new and valuable data source to clients seeking to improve their positioning and identify opportunities for growth.

Access the full report