Top 10 best beach towns to live in
It’s the first day of summer, and people can plan vacations again! But what about actually living by the beach full time? The waterfront evokes relaxation and luxury, but according to a new survey by WalletHub, many beach towns are suitable to everyday life—and easy on the wallet.
To determine the beach communities that are ideal for living year-round, WalletHub compared 191 cities across six key dimensions—affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life—and 62 key indicators of livability. The towns were split into two categories—towns located by the ocean (145 towns) and by lakes (46 towns).
Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for beach-town living, and each city’s weighted average was determined across all metrics to calculate a town’s total score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the towns.
According to WalletHub, the sample includes all cities with populations between 10,000 and 150,000 and at least one beach listed on TripAdvisor.
The top 10 lake-front beach towns to live in are listed below. Click through the gallery to see the top 10 ocean-front beach towns to live in.
Top 10 lake-front beach towns to live in
- Traverse City, Mich. (65.84)
- Folsom, Calif. (64.97)
- Redmond, Wash. (63.23)
- Mercer Island, Wash. (60.68)
- Cornelius, N.C. (60.53)
- Davidson, N.C. (60.07)
- Kirkland, Wash. (59.37)
- South Lake Tahoe, Calif. (58.87)
- Highland Park, Ill. (58.54)
- Brookfield, Wis. (58.28)
