The American suburb: either a blight against urban design and zealous car-crazed ownership or a nice place to live, depending on who you ask. Raising a family, purchasing a home and not being near the hustle and bustle of a big city are all reasons people love living in the 'burbs and commuting to work.
Storage Cafe projects that 50 percent of all millennials will migrate to the suburbs at some point in the future, keeping the dream — of American home ownership and getting a minivan for your kids — alive. But this begs the question: where is actually the best place to live? Well, we now have a top 100 ranked list, using data gathered from the Zillow Home Value Index, to help us out.
This ranking is based on certain key metrics, such as lifestyle amenities, median household incomes, number of housing permits allowed, number of restaurants, park space per capita, life expectancy and education rankings. Storage Cafe analyzed all of these factors to gauge which are the best suburban areas to live in, so don't get upset if your favorite neighborhood in the world comes towards the bottom of the top 100.
Key Findings:
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Illinois sits at the top of the list with five suburbs in the top ten, offering the best quality and affordability in housing, including five of Chicago's suburban towns — Schaumburg, Lombard, Skokie, Bloomingdale and Vernon Hills. The top 15 also includes Chicago suburbs Lake Zurich and Downers Grove.
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New Jersey and Georgia suburbs also come out looking like terrific places to live — if you can stomach living in New Jersey, of course. The principal city connected to Jersey suburbs Hackensack and Woodbridge in is New York City, which is in another state, as the price difference between living in NJ over NY can save one around $300K. Georgia suburbs Decatur ranked second overall, and Duluth was ranked 11th — both cities sit right outside of Atlanta.
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The biggest loser? California, which continues to be the most expensive place to live in all of America. The bottom 11 cities on the list are all suburbs of various major metros (San Jose, LA, San Francisco and San Diego). The average price of a home in these places are well above the norm, ranging from half a million to three million dollars.
Via Storage Cafe.
[Image: YouTube]
