U.S. News and World Report recently released its “Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2025–2026” rankings, which highlight the 250 best American cities annually. This year, two Montgomery County cities have made the top 100: Bethesda at 21st place and Rockville at 81st place.
This annual ranking looks at factors such as local job markets, value (cost of living and housing affordability) and quality of life in different cities. These metrics were determined through a public survey that asked over 1,000 people about the factors they consider most important in finding a city to live in, as well as statistics from government agencies like the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau.
In previous years, approximately 150 cities were ranked for each list, but 859 cities were ranked for the 2025–2026 list. This is in part because of new data considerations introduced this year, such as the increased importance of job markets in specific cities due to economic uncertainty. Each of these cities were then placed into state-specific rankings, even if they did not make the top 250.
Bethesda has made the Best Places to Live list several times in the past few years.
“Bethesda is an affluent, highly educated suburb of our nation’s capital, and as such, it has the No. 1 job market in the country,” writes U.S. News and World Report consumer lending analyst Erika Giovanetti in the article “The 25 Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2025–2026.” “Located within the greater Washington area, Bethesda has an artsy, diverse and bustling atmosphere that earns its reputation as a destination city in its own right.”
Both cities also made the aggregator website Niche.com’s 2025 list of best places to live in Maryland for families and professionals earlier in May, with Bethesda in sixth place and Rockville in 11th place.
Five other Maryland towns outside of Montgomery County also made the U.S. News list: Ellicott City at 13th place, Columbia at 117th place, Towson at 127th place, Bowie at 175th place and Germantown at 194th place.
“This year’s release celebrates the top 250 places that meet consumer needs best, but also offers the ability to view top-ranked cities in states of their choice,” Giovanetti added in a news release.
