U.S. News & World Report has released its 2026-27 rankings of the best places to live in California, with Bay Area cities claiming seven of the top 10 spots.
Outside the Bay Area, Folsom, Encinitas and Redondo Beach rounded out the top 10.
To create the rankings, U.S. News evaluated 161 California cities across factors Americans say matter most when choosing where to live, including affordability, quality of life, desirability and job opportunities.
The cities that landed in the top 10 share several characteristics, including highly rated schools, relatively low crime rates, high household incomes and access to major employment hubs.
Here’s a look at the 10 best places to live in California, according to U.S. News & World Report.
With an overall score of 6.2 out of 10, Dublin claimed the top spot on U.S. News & World Report’s list.
Here’s a breakdown of some factors that helped make Dublin the best place to live in the state:
Cupertino ranked No.2 on U.S. News & World Report’s list, with an overall score of 6.1 out of 10.
Here’s a breakdown of some factors that helped Cupertino rank high on the list of best places to live in California:
Palo Alto earned an overall score of 6.1, placing it No. 3 on U.S. News & World Report’s list.
Here are some factors that helped place Palo Alto among the top 10 places to live in the Golden State:
Sunnyvale had a 5.9 overall score and placed No. 4 on U.S. News & World Report’s list.
Here are some of the factors that went into Sunnyvale’s placement on the list:
Folsom captured the fifth spot on U.S. News & World Report’s list with an overall score of 5.8.
Here are some of the factors that went into making Sunnyvale a top place to live in California:
With an overall score of 5.8, Encinitas ranked No. 6 on U.S. News & World Report’s list.
Here are some metrics that helped the city crack the top 10 best places to live in California.
U.S. News & World Report derived an overall score of 5.8 for San Ramon, ranking the city as No. 7.
Some of the factors that helped the city make the top 10 places to live in California include:
Santa Clara had an overall score of 5.8 and placed No. 8 in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings.
Some metrics factored into Santa Clara’s score include:
Fremont ranked No.9 on U.S. News & World Report’s list with an overall score of 5.7.
Here are some factors that helped the city land in the top 10 best places to live in the Golden State:
Redondo Beach just made the top 10 best places to live in U.S. News & World Report’s list with an overall score of 5.7.
Here are some factors considered in the city’s ranking:
To determine the best places to live, U.S. News & World Report ranked cities using data from government agencies and research groups. The rankings were derived using four main categories — value, quality of life, desirability and job market — meant to reflect what Americans deem matter most when deciding where to live.
For value, the publication considered factors such as housing costs, cost of living, and more. Quality of life included access to highly rated hospitals/health care, air quality, economic performance and more. Desirability included factors such as crime rates, access to restaurants and cultural attractions. The job market assessment included unemployment rate and median household income.
As the factors had different metrics, such as dollars and percentages, the publican converted the factors to a standard scoring system. Then, the four categories were weighted and combined for overall score on a 10-point scale, with 10 being the highest possible rating.
A full list of U.S. News & World Report’s 161 best places to live in California can be found here.