Tax climate
2018 Business Tax Climate Index (Overall Rank, by state)
Source: Tax Foundation
| CITY | TAX CLIMATE | RANK |
|---|---|---|
| Miami, Florida | 4 | 1 |
| Indianapolis, Indiana | 9 | 2 |
| Raleigh, North Carolina | 11 | 3 |
| Austin, Texas | 13 | 4 |
| Dallas, Texas | 13 | 4 |
| Nashville, Tennessee | 14 | 6 |
| Denver, Colorado | 18 | 7 |
| Boston, Massachusetts | 22 | 8 |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 26 | 9 |
| Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | 26 | 9 |
| Chicago, Illinois | 29 | 11 |
| Northern Virginia | 31 | 12 |
| Atlanta, Georgia | 36 | 13 |
| Montgomery County, Maryland | 43 | 14 |
| Baltimore, MD | 43 | 14 |
| Columbus, Ohio | 45 | 16 |
| Washington, DC | 47 | 17 |
| Los Angeles, California | 48 | 18 |
| New York City, New York | 49 | 19 |
| Newark, New Jersey | 50 | 20 |
* by state
Cost of living
The average cost of living in the US is set at 100.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (Cost of Living Index--Selected Urban Areas: Annual Average 2010) / Sperling's best places
| CITY | COST OF LIVING | RANK |
|---|---|---|
| Indianapolis, Indiana | 87.2 | 1 |
| Nashville, Tennessee | 91.7 | 2 |
| Dallas, Texas | 91.9 | 3 |
| Columbus, Ohio | 92 | 4 |
| Austin, Texas | 95.5 | 5 |
| Atlanta, Georgia | 95.6 | 6 |
| Denver, Colorado | 103.2 | 7 |
| Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | 104.1 | 8 |
| Raleigh, North Carolina | 104.2 | 9 |
| Miami, Florida | 106 | 10 |
| Washington, DC | 107.9 | 11 |
| Baltimore, MD | 110.8 | 12 |
| Newark, New Jersey | 111.6 | 13 |
| Chicago, Illinois | 116.9 | 14 |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 124.9 | 15 |
| Boston, Massachusetts | 132.5 | 16 |
| Los Angeles, California | 136.4 | 17 |
| Montgomery County, Maryland | 142.8 | 18 |
| New York City, New York | 154.3 | 19 |
| Northern Virginia | 158.6 | 20 |
* data for Northern Va and Montgomery County from Sperling's Best Places
Transit
Percentage of employees who use public transportation to get to work
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
| CITY | % OF WORKERS WHO USE TRANSIT | RANK |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 57% | 1 |
| Washington | 37% | 2 |
| Boston | 34% | 3 |
| Chicago | 28% | 4 |
| Newark | 26% | 5 |
| Philadelphia | 26% | 6 |
| Northern Virginia | 22% | 7 |
| Baltimore | 18% | 8 |
| Pittsburgh | 17% | 9 |
| Montgomery County | 16% | 10 |
| Miami | 11% | 11 |
| Los Angeles | 10% | 12 |
| Atlanta | 10% | 13 |
| Denver | 7% | 14 |
| Dallas | 4% | 15 |
| Austin | 4% | 16 |
| Columbus | 3% | 17 |
| Nashville | 2% | 18 |
| Indianapolis | 2% | 19 |
| Raleigh | 2% | 20 |
Educational attainment
Percentage of individuals in 2016 who have achieved a bachelor's degree or higher levels of education.
Source: ACS 2016 Estimates
| CITY | BACHELOR'S OR HIGHER | RANK |
|---|---|---|
| Montgomery County, Maryland | 59.2% | 1 |
| Washington, DC | 56.8% | 2 |
| Northern Virginia | 50.2% | 3 |
| Austin, Texas | 49.2% | 4 |
| Boston, Massachusetts | 48.4% | 5 |
| Denver, Colorado | 47.4% | 6 |
| Raleigh, North Carolina | 47.2% | 7 |
| Nashville, Tennessee | 39.2% | 8 |
| Newark, New Jersey | 39.0% | 9 |
| Chicago, Illinois | 38.5% | 10 |
| Atlanta, Georgia | 37.7% | 11 |
| New York City, New York | 37.0% | 12 |
| Columbus, Ohio | 35.3% | 13 |
| Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | 34.6% | 14 |
| Los Angeles, California | 32.8% | 15 |
| Dallas, Texas | 31.6% | 16 |
| Baltimore, MD | 30.8% | 17 |
| Miami, Florida | 30.5% | 18 |
| Indianapolis, Indiana | 30.1% | 19 |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 28.6% | 20 |
Commute times
Average commute times: mean travel time to work of workers 16 and over
Source: U.S. Census Bureau / DataUSA
| CITY | COMMUTE TIMES | RANK |
|---|---|---|
| Columbus, Ohio | 23.5 | 1 |
| Indianapolis, Indiana | 24.8 | 2 |
| Raleigh, North Carolina | 25.4 | 3 |
| Austin, Texas | 26.4 | 4 |
| Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | 26.5 | 5 |
| Nashville, Tennessee | 27 | 6 |
| Denver, Colorado | 27.3 | 7 |
| Dallas, Texas | 27.9 | 8 |
| Miami, Florida | 28.5 | 9 |
| Los Angeles, California | 29.6 | 10 |
| Northern Virginia (Fairfax County) | 29.9 | 11 |
| Baltimore, MD | 30.5 | 12 |
| Atlanta, Georgia | 31 | 13 |
| Chicago, Illinois | 31.3 | 14 |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 31.5 | 15 |
| Boston, Massachusetts | 32 | 16 |
| Montgomery County, Maryland | 32.4 | 17 |
| Newark, New Jersey | 32.7 | 18 |
| Washington, DC | 34.4 | 19 |
| New York City, New York | 35.9 | 20 |
Airport traffic
Passenger volume of airports in 2016
Source: Airports Council International North America
| CITY | PASSENGER VOLUME 2016 | RANK |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 122,759,526 | 1 |
| Newark | 122,759,526 | 1 |
| Atlanta | 101,491,106 | 3 |
| Chicago | 99,171,003 | 4 |
| Dallas | 78,572,260 | 5 |
| Los Angeles | 74,937,004 | 6 |
| Washington | 68,334,625 | 7 |
| Denver | 54,014,502 | 8 |
| Montgomery County | 46,835,723 | 9 |
| Northern Virginia | 44,511,093 | 10 |
| Miami | 44,350,247 | 11 |
| Boston | 33,515,905 | 12 |
| Philadelphia | 31,444,403 | 13 |
| Baltimore | 23,823,532 | 14 |
| Austin | 11,897,959 | 15 |
| Nashville | 11,673,633 | 16 |
| Raleigh | 9,943,331 | 17 |
| Indianapolis | 8,511,959 | 18 |
| Pittsburgh | 8,128,187 | 19 |
| Columbus | 7,288,030 | 20 |