Liverpool, New York — the one-square-mile village of about 2,600 people just outside Syracuse — has been named Reader’s Digest’s Nicest Place in America for 2026, adding to the magazine’s nearly decade-long contest awarding communities defined by generosity and neighborly care.
The magazine’s editorial team narrowed reader nominations with help from a panel that included TV Today co-anchor Craig Melvin, author Mitch Albom, podcast host Mónica Guzmán, StoryCorps CEO Sandra Clark, and Molly Irani of Chai Pani Restaurant Group, last year’s winning nominee from Asheville, North Carolina.
Liverpool’s reputation for service dates back more than two decades. Operation Northern Comfort, a nonprofit founded in 2005 by the late Norm “Mr. Liverpool” Andrzejewski, began as a Hurricane Katrina relief effort and has since shifted its focus to building wheelchair ramps and lifts for area residents with accessibility needs. CEO Laurel Flanagan told Reader’s Digest the organization completed 57 such projects in 2025 alone…