{"id":13080,"date":"2017-09-11T13:47:30","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T13:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/09\/11\/methodology-military-times-best-places-to-live-2017\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:27:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:27:57","slug":"methodology-military-times-best-places-to-live-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/education-transition\/2017\/09\/11\/methodology-military-times-best-places-to-live-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Methodology: Military Times Best Places to Live 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Story <\/a>| Large city rankings <\/a>| Medium city rankings <\/a>| Small city rankings<\/a>
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For the Military Times Best Place to Live rankings, formerly known as Best for Vets: Places to Live, we evaluated 577 places, as designated by the U.S. Census Bureau, dividing them into 254 small cities with populations of fewer than 75,000; 244 medium-sized cities with populations of at least 75,000 but fewer than 200,000; and 79 large cities with populations of 200,000 or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We compared locations across three broad categories: veteran and military culture and services, economic indicators \u2014 some veteran-specific and some not \u2014 and livability factors such as crime, health, school quality and traffic. Each of the three categories were of comparable value in the evaluation, but economic indicators and veteran and military culture and services were weighed more heavily than livability factors. Including all data points measured, slightly more than half of the evaluation was based on metrics specific to veterans or the military, while the rest was based on metrics applicable to the population as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Population<\/b>, home price<\/b>, rent<\/b>, income <\/b>and unemployment <\/b>data came from 2015 Census surveys, the most recent available information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Installation <\/b>information came from the Defense Department\u2019s 2015 Demographics Profile of the Military Community, the most recent such report available. In the case of joint bases, individual components may be reflected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crime report <\/b>data came from the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s Uniform Crime Reporting data for 2015, also the most recent available information. We combined data on property and violent crime. Statistics for Vermont may not reflect 12 months of data due to technical issues at multiple agencies across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GreatSchools rating <\/b>data come from the national nonprofit GreatSchools, which uses a 1-10 scale to rate schools, with 10 being the best. We used GreatSchools ratings to calculate an average rating at the county level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Area health <\/b>data, where 4 stars represents the best, came from an equal average of two data sources. One is the United Health Foundation\u2019s 2016 America\u2019s Health Rankings Annual Report, which provided state-by-state data. The other is the 2017 County Health Rankings from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, which provided county-by-county data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, we took into consideration a substantial amount of data not listed on these pages, coming from a variety of sources, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n