Last year, Colorado made headlines after three of its cities were ranked among the best places to live in the United States by US News and World Report. Colorado Springs ranked 3rd overall, Boulder ranked 10th, and Fort Collins ranked 39th. This year, however, the rankings of Centennial State spots were vastly different, with no local city cracking the top 150 ‘best places to live’ and all three of the aforementioned spots absent from the greater list of the top 250 places.

Each year, US News and World Report publishes a ranking of the ‘best places to live’ nationwide, focusing on data that fits into five categories – quality of life (quality of education, healthcare, air quality, environmental risks, state economy, state infrastructure), value (housing affordability, cost of living), desirability (crime rates, weather, leisure, commuter index), the job market (unemployment rate, median household income), and net migration. The report gets quite a bit of press, with cities and towns around the nation oft-quick to boast about a good performance.

Admittedly, Coloradans seemed a bit shocked when Colorado Springs finally topped Boulder last year, but they’ll probably be a bit more surprised with this year’s breakdown.

According to US News and World Report, Johns Creek (Georgia), Carmel (Indiana), and Pearland (Texas) are the top three ‘best places to live’ in the US for 2025 to 2026. A single Colorado spot failed to crack the top ten… or the top 25… or the top 150.

The highest ranking Colorado spot of the two the made the cut to be included was Centennial – ranking 154th overall. Parker was also included, at a ranking of 192nd. And for the top 250 spots to live nationwide, that was it for the Centennial State.

Coloradans are likely to be left scratching their heads over the absence of Colorado Springs, Boulder, and Fort Collins after each city’s strong performance in the 2024 to 2025 report. Despite many other cities around the country making a repeat-appearance in the rankings, these cities all dropped in ranking so much that they failed to show up at all. Colorado Springs, for example, would have had to have dropped from 3rd to at least 251st to miss the inclusion.

Do you think there’s an obvious reason for this wild swing? Let us know in the comments.

Find the full report here and find a breakdown of 19 Colorado cities ranked from ‘best’ to ‘worst’ here.