In which cities do Americans most want to live?

By Jayne Clark, USA TODAY

Many of the qualities that make cities coveted as places to live also make them dream vacation destination fodder.

So we took notice of a new Harris Interactive survey that asked 2,620 Americans the city they'd most like to live in or near.

The top of the heap? New York -- as it has been every year but one since Harris first posed the question in 1997. But here's the interesting thing. New York also topped the list as the place respondents would least like to live.

Other cities in the survey sparked similar love-hate responses, landing them on both the favorite and least favorite lists, including Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago.

The top 10 cities people would most like to live in or near:
1. New York
2. San Diego
3. Las Vegas
4. Seattle
5. San Francisco
6. Los Angeles
7. Nashville
7. Atlanta (a tie)
9. Denver
10. Boston

And the cities people would least like to live in?
1. New York
2. Detroit
3. Los Angeles
4. Chicago
5. Houston
6. Miami
7. Washington
8.San Francisco
9. Dallas
10. Phoenix (tied with New Orleans)

Posted Oct 20 2010 1:28PM

http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations ... e/128104/1