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A North Carolina town calls itself the “Peak of Good Living” — and it keeps being named a top place to settle down.
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The Raleigh suburb of Apex ranks No. 4 on a new list of the nation’s best small cities for lower costs, job growth and other stand-out assets.
“For those who value more space, fewer degrees of separation and shorter commutes, small-city living can offer plenty of advantages,” the personal finance website WalletHub wrote in a report published in late September. “Of course, smaller cities come with some tradeoffs, too, including fewer restaurant choices and shorter business hours.”
To determine the best small cities, WalletHub said it studied more than 1,300 places that had roughly 25,000 to 100,000 residents. Using data from the U.S. government and other sources, it scored each destination across five categories: economic health, affordability, education and health, safety, and quality of life.
On the resulting list, Apex was the only place in North Carolina to earn a top 10 spot. It also landed in the 99th percentile, meaning it’s in the top 1% of small cities across the country.
Apex also was in the top 1% in last year’s WalletHub rankings, but its recent accolades don’t end there. The town has been recognized as one of the nation’s most desirable places to live. It also was named North Carolina’s top “boomtown” and the No. 1 safest city in the state, The News & Observer previously reported.
The suburb, southwest of downtown Raleigh, is home to about 86,000 people. On the latest list from WalletHub, it made its biggest mark in the money-related categories.
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Of all the towns in the study, Apex ranked No. 1 for economic health, a measure of population trends, income growth, job opportunities and more. It also snagged the No. 12 spot for affordability as WalletHub weighed housing prices and costs of living.
But the town didn’t fare as well when it came to WalletHub’s other categories, with results showing it landed around the 200 mark for education and health as well as safety. And it ranked closer to average for quality of life, which considered entertainment options and the amount of time residents spend working.
The results come as Apex is in the midst of a multi-million dollar overhaul of its downtown streescape. With construction expected to continue until the holiday season, some businesses have faced lower foot traffic, The N&O reported.
Dozens of other North Carolina towns were considered for the WalletHub rankings. Here’s how the top ones fared:
You can read the full list of best places to call home at wallethub.com/edu.
Nationwide, WalletHub said the small city that reigned supreme was Lexington, Massachusetts, near Boston. Besides that town and Apex, here are the other destinations that rounded out the top five:
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