The Locations of the Best & Worst Places to Live

If you're moving with your family or just looking for a new city to start your life in, you'll want to make sure you choose a location that's a good place to live. You may want to live in the best of neighborhoods, or you may just want to avoid living in a city headed for disaster. Knowing information about some of the best and worst places to live will help you in deciding on your new city or area of the country you want to move to.

Seattle, Washington

• Even though Seattle, Washington, is notorious for receiving a lot of rain, the city is home to a number of thriving companies, including Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing. Seattle also has a huge life-science industry thanks to the University of Washington's bioscience and medical centers. This is a source of sustainable jobs and leaves the city as a huge center for important health initiatives. Lisa Cohen of the Washington Global Health Alliance said, "We can't hire fast enough."

Austin, Texas

• Even though Austin's official slogan is "The Live Music Capital of the World," it's also home to a thriving technological industry. In fact, two of the city's top employers include Dell and IBM. The region nicknamed "the Silicone Hills" has a lower cost of living than Silicone Valley, making it an attractive location for a number of tech and software companies. Austin's culture revolves around the music and film industry growing within the city, offering residents a trendy and laid-back atmosphere to live in. In addition, MSN named Austin "Greenest City in America."

Cleveland, Ohio

• According to an estimate based off the U.S. Census, well over 2,500 people left the city of Cleveland in 2009 alone. The city is the third-highest in the nation for home foreclosures, and its streets are haunted with thousands of abandoned homes. In addition to its high unemployment rate, the city experiences at least five feet of lake effect snow every winter from Lake Erie, making winters close to unbearable for Cleveland residents.

Detroit, Michigan

• Detroit is a dangerous city with high levels of foreclosures, office vacancies and unemployment. In fact, according to the FBI's crime report, the city experiences 1,200 crimes for every 100,000 city residents. About 30 percent of Detroit's offices sit empty, and home foreclosures were up 35 percent in the first half of 2010. Detroit's economy may begin to recover if the auto industry bounces back, but even that won't be able to ensure jobs and a livelihood for all of Detroit's unemployed.