For the sixth consecutive survey, more Americans would like to live in or near New York City than in any other city, according to a recent online poll conducted by Harris Interactive, while California, Florida and Hawaii are respectively the #1, #2, and #3 states where U.S. adults would choose to live.
The next most popular states in which people would like to live are Colorado (#4), New York (#5), Arizona (#6), Oregon (#7), Texas (#8), North Carolina (#9), and Tennessee (#10).
Since Harris Interactive last asked this question in 2003, there has been surprisingly little change in the top 15 states. Oregon moves from #11 to #7, Virginia drops from #9 to #12 and Tennessee re-enters the top 15 after falling out of the top tier in 2003.
One interesting thing to note is that eight of the 15 states are in the West and six of them are in the South. New York is the anomaly, representing the mid-Atlantic region, and there are no states from the Midwest or Northeast in the top 15.
Following New York City’s lead as a top U.S. city people would choose to live in or near, the next four cities are all in the West — San Diego (#2), Las Vegas (#3), San Francisco (#4) and Seattle (#5). The Midwest makes the list with Chicago at #6 and rounding out the top 10 are Denver (#7), Honolulu (#8), Atlanta (#9) and Portland, Oregon (#10).
Returning to the list of the 15 top cities this year are San Antonio at #14 and Nashville at #15. Nashville has not been in the top 15 since 2000. Interestingly, since Harris Interactive last asked the question in 2003, the cities from Florida that were on the top 15 list (Orlando, Tampa and Miami) have all dropped off, perhaps related to the 2004 devastation that occurred in Florida as a result of Hurricane Ivan.
The Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between July 12 and 18, 2005, among a nationwide cross section of 2,339 adults.
Rochester, N.Y.-based Harris Interactive is a worldwide market research and consulting company.
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