This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Salt Lake City is the seventh-best place to live in the U.S., according to Livability.com's latest Top 100 Best Places to Live listing.
The website ranks quality of life and travel amenities of America's small and midsized cities. Sale Lake City scored high in the areas of health care and amenities as well as education.
Palo Alto, Calif., ranked first and was followed by Boulder, Colo.; Berkeley, Calif.; Durham, N.C.; Miami Beach, Fla.; Rochester, Minn.; Eugene, Ore.; Reno, Nev.; and Rockville, Md. rounded out the top 10.
Provo was ranked 16th and Murray 97th on the list.
According to Livability.com, the list is the result of a months-long study of U.S. cities and the factors that make them better places to live, work and play.
Livability.com partnered with Martin Prosperity Institute — a Canada-based think-tank focused on the role of location, place, and city-regions in global economic prosperity — to produce the list.
The website then recruited the market research firm Ipsos Public Affairs to conduct a survey to find out what quality-of-life amenities residents value most. These were narrowed to eight categories — including economics, housing, amenities, infrastructure, demographics, social and civic capital, education and health care — that were used to score and rank cities.
"Great cities are more than just a check-list of bars, coffee shops and museums," said Livability.com editor Matt Carmichael. "Our goal was to collect the best data available, from the best sources, and the best partners to gauge the true measures of livability. Access was important, but so were utilization and affordability. By using data from the public sector, the private sector and non-profits focused on these issues, we have compiled an index that celebrates America's great cities and towns."