Rochester Hills climbs top 10 list of U.S. News & World Report’s best places to live

ROCHESTER HILLS — Rochester Hills has once again been named one the best places to live in the United States, according to U.S. News and World Report.

“This is the ultimate report card, and I couldn’t be more proud of our entire community,” Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett said in a statement.

This year, U.S. News & World Report evaluated more than 850 cities and published the top 250 places to live. Analysts asked people across the country what mattered most to them when determining where to live, and they used those factors — value, desirability, job market and quality of life — to make the list. The data is weighted based on what people think is most important. The 2026-2027 rankings also factors in data from U.S. News’ internal resources, Applied Geographic Solutions and U.S. government agencies, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, the FBI, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As prices of everyday goods continue to rise, Erika Giovanetti, a consumer lending analyst at U.S. News & World Report, said, consumers are considering affordability as a top priority when choosing a place to live.

“While U.S. News’ consumer survey indicated that quality of life and affordability were close in importance, cost-of-living concerns resulted in many Americans putting what they can afford above their aspirations,” Giovanetti said in a statement.

Overall, nine Michigan communities made the top 250 list.

Rochester Hills was ranked as the seventh best place to live in the U.S., up from ninth in last year’s report, and the No. 1 place to live in Michigan.

Around 77,520 people live in Rochester Hills, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Of that population, 23% are under age 20, 12% are 25-34 years old, 14% are 35-44, 25% are 45-65, and about 20% are over age 65.

According to the report, Rochester Hills “offers a higher value of living than similarly sized cities” when you compare housing costs to median household income. The median home value in Rochester Hills is $388,231, compared to the national average of $359,870, while the median household income in Rochester Hills is $119,938, compared with the national average of $83,181. The job market in Rochester Hills is better than the national average, while unemployment in Rochester Hills is lower than the national average of 4.54%.

“We absolutely have something unique and special going on here that is consistently recognized across the county as elite,” Barnett said in a statement.

Other ranked Michigan cities include Troy at No. 12; Novi at No. 37; Livonia at No. 47; Midland at No. 66; Farmington Hills at No. 91; Sterling Heights at No. 106; Dearborn at No. 221; and Dearborn Heights at No. 224.

Others in the top 10 include: Carmel, Indiana, at No. 1; Pearland, Texas, at No. 3; Fishers, Indiana, at No. 2; Flower Mound, Texas, at No. 3; Ankeny, Iowa, at No. 4; Johns Creek, Georgia, at No. 5; Hoover, Alabama, at No. 6; Leander, Texas, at No. 8; Frisco, Texas, at No. 9 and Sugar Land, Texas, at No. 10.

For more information about the U.S. News & World Report rankings, visit www.usnews.com.