In a LawnStarter study of cities across America, Carmel ranked No. 10 in the nation for standard of living. Photo from Picryl.

News Release

CARMEL — In a recent ranking of cities across America, Carmel ranked No. 10 in the nation for standard of living.

The report, published by LawnStarter, examined qualities such as health, safety, education, affordability, and environmental factors across 13 categories to identify the best “Quality of Life.”

Across LawnStarter’s 500-city rankings, the Elkhart County city ranked first in the nation in economic stability, housing affordability and infrastructure, fourth in education, 12th in recreational facilities and 14th in safety. It ranked 22nd and 24th in physical and mental health, respectively, while its rankings in the other 50 criteria were noncompetitive. Particularly low were its air and environment ranking, at No. 475, and its social and personal freedoms rank, at No. 498.

Overall, Carmel scored an average of 67.97 in quality of life.

Other top cities were Newton, Mass. at No. 1; Woodbury, Minn. at No. 2; Plymouth, Minn. at No. 3; Pleasanton, Calif. at No. 4; Redmond, Wisc. at No. 5; Castle Rock, Col. at No. 5; Bellevue, Wy. at No. 7; San Ramon, Calif. at No. 8 and Naperville, Ill. at No. 9.

Fishers also ranked high, at No. 21. The next highest-ranked Hoosier cities were Bloomington, at No. 276 and Fort Wayne, at No. 357.

The bottom ten cities were Laredo and Corpus Christi, Texas, at No. 491 and No. 492; Hammond at No. 493; Jackson, Miss. at No. 494; Memphis, Tenn. at No. 495; Brownsville, Pasadena and Pharr, Texas at No. 495, No. 496 and No. 497; Detroit and Flint, Mich. at No. 499 and No. 500.

To compile the list, LawnStarter identified metrics that it found most relevant to quality of life, then looked at contributing factors to that metric. For instance, ‘Economic Stability’ was calculated by looking at unemployment, people living below the poverty level, consumer expenditures per household, and other relevant data.

For the full list, go here.