Despite years of skyrocketing housing costs, office vacancies, and residents fleeing for greener pastures, Los Angeles and San Francisco have landed in the top five of a new national ranking of America’s best cities for 2026.
The annual “America’s Best Cities 2026” report from Resonance placed Los Angeles at No. 2 and San Francisco at No. 5 in the country. New York City claimed the top spot, with Chicago and Miami rounding out the top five.
The rankings come even as both California metros have hemorrhaged population in recent years. Los Angeles County saw a 4.3% cumulative net migration loss from 2020 to 2025. San Francisco fared even worse, losing 6.1% of its population to outmigration over the same period. San Francisco did post a small positive net migration figure in 2024-2025, its first in years, according to the report.
So how did cities that Americans are actively leaving end up at the top of the list?
Resonance ranked the country’s top 100 cities based on three categories: livability, lovability, and prosperity. The 2026 report ranked all 393 US metropolitan statistical areas for the first time, weighing both how cities actually perform and how they are perceived by the public.
Los Angeles performed especially well across the board, ranking No. 2 nationally in livability, lovability, and prosperity. San Francisco held firm with a No. 5 livability ranking, No. 10 lovability ranking, and No. 7 prosperity ranking.
The report described San Francisco and Seattle as the West Coast’s “technology anchors,” citing their strength as places to work. Seattle ranked sixth overall in the national list.
Livability measured quality of life factors including walkability, transit access, air quality, climate risk, green space, housing costs relative to income, broadband access, healthcare access, and life expectancy.
Lovability measured a city’s cultural draw, including restaurants, arts and entertainment venues, museums, outdoor experiences, nightlife, social media activity, search trends, and user-generated content.
Prosperity measured economic strength and opportunity, including GDP per capita, labor force participation, innovation, education, unemployment and poverty rates, corporate headquarters, university quality, and direct air connections.
The report found that cities are no longer judged only by whether they are affordable or functional, but by whether people actually want to be there. A major finding from this year’s report was the gap between how livable a city is on paper and how livable people think it is. Lovability played an outsized role in shaping a city’s reputation.
That perception helped push California’s largest metros to the top of the list, despite their well-known struggles.
The report noted the top of the list remained largely stable, with New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago once again holding the top three spots because of their “scale, economic complexity, and cultural depth.”
Other California cities also made the top 100. San Diego ranked 12th overall, San Jose came in 29th, and Sacramento landed at No. 47.
Las Vegas, Dallas, Houston, and Boston rounded out the top 10 nationally.
Resonance framed the ranking as a measure of what makes a city competitive in the modern era. Not just whether residents can afford housing or reach a park, but whether the city attracts people who want to live there.
For everyday Americans watching friends and family pack up for Texas, Florida, and other states with lower taxes and more affordable housing, the rankings may raise questions about what “best” really means when millions are voting with their feet.
