With small cities often offering significantly lower costs of living than large cities, the personal-finance website WalletHub recently released its report on “2024’s Best Small Cities in America” to identify which places offer the best quality of life while remaining affordable.

WalletHub compared more than 1,300 cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 across 45 key indicators of livability. They range from housing costs and school-system quality to the number of restaurants per capita and the crime rate.

The top cities named, in order, were Carmel, Ind.; Brookfield, Wis.; Lexington, Maine; Fishers, Ind.; Appleton, Wis.; Apex, N.C.; Brentwood, Tenn.; Lancaster, Pa.; Bozeman, Mont.; Westfield, Ind.; Milton, Maine; Fair Lawn, N.J.;Leesburg, Va.; Noblesville, Ind.; Castle Rock, Colo.; Kaysville, Utah; Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; Downers Grove, Ill.; Needham, Maine; and Arlington, Maine.

Best versus worst takeaways from the survey were:

• Los Altos, Calif., and McLean, Va., are among the cities which have the highest median annual household income, which is 10.8 times higher than in Isla Vista, Calif., the city with the lowest.
• Southlake, Texas, and Westfield, N.J., are among the cities which have the lowest share of the population living in poverty, which is 36.2 times lower than in Isla Vista, Calif., the city with the highest.
• Isla Vista, Calif., has the fewest average hours worked per week, which is 1.9 times fewer than in Fort Hood, Texas, the city with the most.
• Castle Rock and Parker, Colo., have the lowest share of adults in fair or poor health, which is 3.5 times lower than in Pharr and Eagle Pass, Texas, which are among the cities with the highest.