Resonance Consultancy, which is a placemaking firm that we have spoken about before on the blog, is working on a new America's Best Cities report. And as part of this, they've been surveying Americans about which cities they would most like to live in and visit. The result is a list of the most "desirable" US cities that looks like this:

1. New York

2. Miami

3. Los Angeles

4. Las Vegas

5. San Diego

6. Chicago

7. Seattle

8. San Francisco

9. Houston

10. Denver

The long and the short of it seems to be that people generally want to live in the places where they like to travel. But what's interesting is that if you look at the US cities that have actually grown the most in absolute numbers over the last few years (specifically April 2020 to July 2023), the list transforms into this:

1. Dallas (+462,639)

2. Houston (+360,649)

3. Phoenix (+219,008)

4. Atlanta (+200,414)

5. Austin (+189,896)

6. Tampa (+167,672)

7. San Antonio (+145,884)

8. Charlotte (+144,767)

9. Orlando (+144,542)

10. Jacksonville (+107,396)

The only city that shows up on both is Houston.

What this suggests is that cities very much have brands. And when you ask people where they'd ideally like to live, they think of the sexiest ones. Places like New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and so on. But it when it comes to actually moving somewhere and paying for a home, there are clearly other realities to consider -- the most important of which is probably affordability.