INDIANAPOLIS — Carmel, Zionsville and Westfield were named among the top 10 small cities in America in a recent study.
WalletHub compared more than 1,300 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 to find which small cities outshine the rest. A panel of experts took into account 43 indicators of livability ranging from housing costs to school-system quality to restaurants per capita.
Nearly half of Americans (43%) say they'd prefer to live in the suburbs. The study found Carmel, a suburb north of Indianapolis, is among the best of the best.
Carmel was ranked the second-best small city in America, falling just behind Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which took the top spot.
At 7th place, Zionsville was not far behind. The study gave Zionsville a well above-average score for quality of life, economic health, education and safety.
Westfield was named the 10th best city in the country. Like Zionsville, it had a high quality of life score. Westfield was also named the best suburb to move to in 2021 by Homes.com.
Fishers, Brownsburg and Noblesville also made WalletHub's list.
Fishers placed 26th, with high scores for quality of life, economic health and education.
Brownsburg was named the 56th best small city in America. Brownsburg had similar high scores for economic health, education, quality of life and safety.
And, Noblesville made the list at 74th. It boasts high scores for economic health and quality of life.
Although Indianapolis didn't qualify for WalletHub's study, it's worth noting that the Circle City made TIME magazine's list of "World's Greatest Places of 2021" and last year it was ranked the second most affordable vacation hotspot in the U.S.
