Study of America’s Best Small Cities include 21 from New York State

A new study that compared over 1,300 cities across the country has named roughly two dozen from New York among America's best.

Roughly 20 million people call New York State their home, minus the slightly over 8 million living in the Big Apple.

Because New York City accounts for almost half the state's population, it plays a large role in how the state performs in terms of affordability and economy.

That's why some react in shock when other cities from the Empire State are found to be some of the most affordable and retirement-friendly places in the country.

Read More: Five Cities in New York Rank Among the Cheapest Places to Live

In fact, the Economic Policy Institute found living in a small city in New York is very affordable, with an average family of four spending about $7,000 a month on their cost of living.

In New York City, that same family would pay as much as $13,300.

Now WalletHub is poking holes in New York being a cost-prohibitive state with its updated list of America's best small cities.

This year, 21 municipalities in the Empire State were among the upper echelons of the national roundup.

On the other hand, some New York cities were not only deemed worst in the state, but in the country.

Here's the five cities that achieved the worst scores in the WalletHub report:

5. Watertown
4. Hempstead
3. Newburgh
2. Coram
1. Spring Valley

All cities ranked below the 25th percentile, with Spring Valley obtaining the lowest score in the state. The Rockland County village ranked in the 5th percentile.

So how did WalletHub create its annual list?

Cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 residents were compared across 45 key indicators in the annual roundup. Some categories included school system quality to the variety of available restaurants.

The ranking was inspired by an Ipsos report that found a third of Americans, or roughly 31%, dream of living in the suburbs compared to just 16% saying they'd prefer the urban areas.

About 24% of the population, or one in four Americans, prefer rural communities.

Looking further into the data, WalletHub found that West Islip and Levittown had the 1st and 5th-most highest home ownership rates in the country.

Newburgh, which made the 18th percentile and obtained the third-lowest score in the state, was found to have the most restaurants per capita, putting it in league with Key West, FL, and Fredericksburg, VA.

On the other hand, Irondequoit and Brighton had the 1st and 5th-least restaurants per capita in the country.

If you're curious to see how other small cities in the Empire State performed in this latest report, check out the interactive map below.

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