Best Counties to Live in America — 2026 Rankings
Every US county scored 0–100 across 8 dimensions of quality of life. Only 2% of counties crack 70. Find yours.
National Rankings
Top 10 Counties in America
The highest composite scores across all 3,144 US counties
By Region
Regional Champions
The #1 ranked county in each US region
Curated Lists
Best Counties For…
Re-ranked by what matters most for each lifestyle
Best for Retirees
Weighted by health, safety, and low property taxBest for Families
Weighted by schools, safety, and incomeBest for Remote Workers
Weighted by cost of living, income, and safetyBest Bang for the Buck
High composite score with affordable cost of livingBrowse by State
Best Counties in Every State
Top-ranked counties + score range for all 50 states + DC
FAQ
Common Questions About County Rankings
What is the best county to live in in the US?+
Based on CountyScore's composite ranking across 8 dimensions — property tax, cost of living, safety, health, schools, disaster risk, water quality, and income — Billings County, ND currently holds the #1 spot with a score of 84.1/100.
How are county scores calculated?+
CountyScore assigns each of the 3,144 US counties a 0–100 percentile rank on 8 dimensions sourced from U.S. government data: Census ACS (tax, cost, income), FBI UCR (safety), CDC (health), NCES (schools), FEMA National Risk Index (disaster risk), EPA SDWIS (water quality), and NOAA (weather). The composite score is a weighted average of these 8 dimension scores.
What is the average county score in the US?+
The national average composite score is 50/100. The distribution is highly concentrated — only 71 counties score above 70, meaning a score of 70+ puts a county in the top 2% nationally.
Which state has the best counties overall?+
States with the most high-scoring counties tend to be in the Northern Plains (North Dakota, Nebraska, Montana) and parts of the Mountain West, where low property taxes, low crime, strong water quality, and low disaster risk combine favorably. Click any state below to see its full county rankings.
What county has the lowest taxes?+
Property tax rates vary widely by county. CountyScore tracks effective property tax rates from Census ACS data for all 3,144 counties. Visit TaxByCounty.com or filter by the Tax dimension in any state ranking page to find the lowest-tax counties in your target state.
Are these rankings updated annually?+
CountyScore rankings are updated whenever new U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates are released (typically annually). The current dataset uses 2019–2023 ACS estimates combined with the most recent available FBI, CDC, FEMA, NCES, and EPA releases.
Data: U.S. Census Bureau ACS (2019–2023), FBI UCR, CDC, FEMA NRI, NCES, EPA SDWIS. Scores are percentile ranks 0–100 (higher is better). For informational purposes only.