Forbes researched affordable locations in America that offer a good quality of life.

American cities were judged using a variety of criteria including housing affordability and energy, clothing and food expenditure. Schools, poverty, health care and crime rates were considered along with data from Sperling’s Best Places measuring entertainment options from music venues and museums to professional sports teams and miles of shoreline.

The top ten locations were:

1. Minneapolis
   The “City of Lakes”. A large variety of companies donate huge sums of money to the city’s schools, cultural institutions and health services. This improves the quality of life and the arts and leisure choices. Housing and cost of living are both affordable, but aren’t dramatically below national averages.
2. Indianapolis
   Indianapolis has a higher percentage of homes available to median-earning households than any other city. Indianapolis may not live up to standards set by New York or Los Angeles for arts and leisure, but what is available has an affordable price tag: Indianapolis ranks as the 13th cheapest city to live in.
3. Cincinnati
   The Queen of the West is one of America’s most affordable cities. Median-earning households can afford over three-quarters of the homes on the market. Furthermore, Cincinnati is America’s fifth cheapest city to live in).
4. St. Louis
   St. Louis has a desirable housing market. Three-quarters of homes are affordable to median buyers, and the market is relatively stable – it isn’t as bogged down in risky loans and defaults as other Midwestern cities. The Gateway to the West has a high ratio of parks and restaurants to citizens and is the 15th cheapest city to live in.
5. Houston
   One of the country’s fastest-growing cities, Houston has added nearly 1 million new people since 2000. Housing affordability and a strong job market seem enough to lure people from all over the country. The city has invested millions over the last five years in expanding infrastructure by adding trains, bolstering the downtown business district and funding the arts, which has helped the city to centralise. It also helps that on an everyday cost basis, among the cities studied, Houston is the cheapest place to live.
6. Milwaukee
   Milwaukee has a strong tradition of charitable giving and civic involvement; both have helped create cultural institutions and fund the arts. In Sperling’s Best Places rank, the city is 21st for its combination of museums, sports outlets, libraries, universities and parks. Cost of living sits at about the national average.
7. Dallas
   Like Houston, Dallas is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, with domestic migrants leading the way. The city itself is a bit more centralised than Houston, has better air quality and better access to public transportation via its DART train. It trails Houston slightly when it comes to cultural institutions like museums, libraries, parks, sports, theatres and universities. Cost of living is slightly higher in Dallas, which was the main reason it ranked behind Houston.
8. Pittsburgh
   There’s a lot more to Pittsburgh than its post-industrial reputation and the hometown Steelers football team. Institutions like the Carnegie Museum, the Andy Warhol Museum and the Mattress Factory (a contemporary art museum) enrich the city’s art scene. The area’s cost of living is actually a touch above the national average but housing is the 11th most affordable in the country.
9. Columbus, Ohio
   Home to Ohio State, the biggest university in the country, Columbus offers residents access to the top-notch facilities that come with such a huge institution. The city scores well in health care, based on access to the Ohio State University Medical Centre, especially the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, which are top national centres. Cost of living is just below the national average, and 76.4% of homes sold last quarter were available to the median-income earner, making it the seventh most affordable real estate market of the 50 measured.
10. Atlanta
    Atlanta is a case study in how land use and development can be managed to keep housing prices affordable. More houses have sold in Atlanta over the last five years than just about anywhere else in the country, and it’s the nation’s fastest growing city of more than 5 million people. Quality-of-life rankings and arts and leisure marks are toward the middle, but the city ranks 11th best when it comes to cost of living.

According to the estimates, all but one of America’s 10 fastest-growing counties were located in the South or West. Pinal, Arizona (near Phoenix) ranked third at 11.5 percent; Kendall, Illinois. (in the Chicago area) fourth at 10.6 percent; Rockwall, Texas (in the Dallas area) fifth at 8.2 percent; Flagler, Florida (between Daytona Beach and Jacksonville) sixth at 7.2 percent; and Union, North Carolina (near Charlotte) seventh at 7.2 percent. Finishing the list were three Georgia counties: Forsyth (7.2 percent), Paulding (6.7 percent) and Jackson (6.7 percent). Forsyth and Paulding are in the Atlanta metro area, with Jackson bordering on Athens-Clarke County.

Maricopa County, Arizona, home of Phoenix, was the top numerical gainer, increasing by 102,000 people between 2006 and 2007. Among the 10 counties that added the largest number of residents between 2006 and 2007, half were in Texas (Harris, Tarrant, Bexar, Collin and Travis), two in North Carolina (Wake and Mecklenburg), and one each in California (Riverside) and Nevada (Clark).

Los Angeles, California remained the most populous county, with a July 1, 2007, population of 9.9 million, a decline of 2,000 residents from 2006.

Other highlights for 2006-2007:

Seventy of the 100 fastest-growing counties were in the South, with 22 in the West and eight in the Midwest.

Among the 100 fastest-growing counties, more than one-third were in either Georgia (18) or Texas (16).

Texas was home to 11 counties among the 25 with the highest numerical gains. Each of the top 25 was in the South or West.

Nevada’s population is growing mainly through migration from other American states, secondly through natural births and thirdly through immigration from other countries.

Figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau show that Louisiana’s population has begun to recover from its Hurricane Katrina population loss, gaining 50,000 people to reach 4.3 million. The state had lost 250,000 residents in the previous year.

Texas gained more people than any other state, almost 500,000, far ahead of runner-up California, which added slightly more than 300,000.

California remains America’s most populous state with 37 million people.

New York continued to be America’s most populous city with 8.2 million residents. This was more than twice the population of Los Angeles, which ranked second at 3.8 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.

Phoenix moved into fifth place ahead of Philadelphia. This is in line with a long-term, southward shift of America’s population centers. In 1910, all 10 of America’s most populous cities lay within 500 miles of the Canadian border. The 2006 estimates show that seven of the top 10 — and three of the top five — are now in states bordering Mexico.

Only three of the top 10 from 1910 remain on the list now: New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. Conversely, three of the current top 10 cities (Phoenix; San Jose, California. and San Diego) were not even among the 100 most populous in 1910, while three more (Dallas, Houston and San Antonio) had populations of less than 100,000.

High Growth Cities

Many of the nation’s fastest-growing cities are suburbs. North Las Vegas, Nevada, had the nation’s fastest growth rate among large cities (100,000 or more population) between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006. North Las Vegas’ population increased 11.9 percent to 197,567. It was joined on the list of the 10 fastest-growing cities by three in the Dallas metro area: McKinney (ranking second), Grand Prairie (sixth) and Denton (ninth). In the same vicinity, Fort Worth just missed the list, ranking 11th.

Florida and Arizona each had two cities among the 10 fastest growing: Port St. Lucie (third) and Cape Coral (fourth) in Florida; and Gilbert (fifth) and Peoria (seventh) in Arizona, both near Phoenix. North Carolina (Cary, near Raleigh) and California (Lancaster, near Los Angeles) each contributed one city to the list. California had seven cities among the 25 fastest growing, leading all states.

Phoenix had the largest population increase of any city, adding more than 43,000 residents to reach 1.5 million. However, Texas dominated the list of the 10 highest gainers, with San Antonio, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and Dallas each making the top 10. North Las Vegas; Miami; Charlotte, N.C.; and San Jose, California. rounded out the list of the 10 biggest gainers. Overall, eight Texas cities were among the 25 biggest gainers.

New Orleans had by far the largest population loss among all cities with populations of at least 100,000 people. The city lost slightly more than half of its pre-Hurricane Katrina population. It fell from 452,170 on July 1, 2005, to 223,388 one year later — a loss of 50.6 percent.

America’s 25 Largest Cities