Where is the love? No city in Florida made it into the top 200 quality of life in the USA

If you ask some of the more than 22 million Floridians who live in the Sunshine State, many would no doubt praise the quality of life, with no state income taxes and plenty of beaches. Yet in a new ranking of the highest quality of life among 500 U.S. cities, no Florida community was even in the top 200.

The Ranking compiled by a lawn care company Lawnstarter.com 500 of America’s largest cities were compared, using factors such as life expectancy, unemployment rates, workers’ rights and food security, as well as other metrics, to create a matrix of quality of life scores.

While cities from Florida were not represented at all in the top 200, only a few cities in the southeastern United States were represented in the top 100.

The rankings were heavily in favor of cities on the US West Coast. Redmond, Washington State, topped the list of cities with the highest quality of life. Bellevue, Washington State, came in fourth.

Three cities from California and two cities from Minnesota were represented in the top 10 most livable cities. Newton, Massachusetts, took second place and Castle Rock, Colorado, rounded out the elite group at number 10.

The study concluded that employee inclusion in the workplace contributes to a higher quality of life.

“Cities on the West Coast, particularly in Washington and California, offer greater job protection and numerous social and personal freedoms,” the study says.

The first Florida city to appear on lawnstarter.com’s rankings was Boca Raton. The coastal community in Palm Beach County ranked 220th on the list. The next closest Florida cities on the list were Orlando at 234th and Gainesville at 239th.

Johns Creek, Georgia, was the highest-ranked city in the Southeastern United States to make the top 100 list. The mostly suburban community of about 82,500 residents north of Atlanta ranked 61st.

The only other Southeastern cities to make the top 100 were Franklin, Tennessee, and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Franklin ranked 73rd and Mount Pleasant ranked 84th.

California was by far the best represented in the top 100 cities with the highest quality of life. About 40 California cities were represented in the top 100.

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