And not surprisingly, Columbus ranks high on the 2025-2026 “Best Places to Live” report by U.S. News.
To compile this list, U.S. News used data from Applied Geographic Solutions and their own internal resources, as well as the U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, the federal Reserve, and the Bureau for Economic Analysis, as well as state and local sources.
The data was categorized into six indexes: Happiness, Affordability, Health Care Quality, Retiree Taxes, Desirability, and Job Market. Each of those indexes also have their own categories. For example, Happiness took into consideration crime rates, air quality, and overall well-being…