Florida didn’t even crack top 50 for the best cities to live, study shows

U.S. News & World Report has released its latest ranking of the best places to live in the country.

The study examines several factors — including quality of life and job markets — to determine how these different cities fared from No. 1 to No. 250.

More specifically, these factors break down as follows:

• Quality of Life Index (26%) — Includes quality of education, health care, air quality, environmental risks, state economy, and state infrastructure
• Value Index (25%) — Includes housing affordability and cost of living
• Desirability Index (24%) — Includes crime rates, weather temperateness, culture/leisure, and commutes
• Job Market Index (23%) — Includes unemployment rates and median household income
• Net Migration (2%) — Includes the number of residents moving in/out of an area

The top spot on the ranking belongs to Johns Creek in Georgia, followed close behind by Carmel, Indiana (No. 2), and Pearland, Texas (No. 3).

But unfortunately for the Sunshine State, Florida didn’t even crack the top 50 on the list.

The best-ranked Florida city included in the report is Parkland of Broward County, which earned a score of 6.4 out of 10.

This was a major shift after the previous ranking, which saw Florida take six spots out of the top 50.

In fact, the best-ranked city nationwide during the prior ranking was Naples, which now sits at No. 179.

While the study doesn’t directly discuss why Florida saw such a big drop in highly ranked areas, the methodology changed quite a bit between these two studies.

To be exact, the prior study examined factors like tax friendliness for retirees, which could have provided a boon for Florida last year.

Regardless, the Florida cities ranked during the latest study are as follows: