Strong Opportunity With Lower Physical Risk

Cities that score well on employment without elevated hazard exposure

The tradeoff most relocation decisions actually turn on: places with a strong job market that are not paying for it in natural-hazard exposure.

40 locations · Calculated October 8, 2026 · Download CSV

The supporting columns show on a wider screen, and every column is in the CSV.

Narrow to one state

40 places, ranked nationally.

#	City	Score	Resilience	Opportunity
1	Madison, WI	86.2	97	75
2	Sandy Springs, GA	84.7	85	84
3	Green Bay, WI	84.5	95	74
4	Columbia, MD	84.2	95	73
5	Meridian, ID	82.9	82	84
6	Atlanta, GA	81.7	83	80
7	Round Rock, TX	80.7	85	76
8	Boise City, ID	80.6	82	79
9	Billings, MT	79.8	87	73
10	Cambridge, MA	79.8	88	71
11	Carmel, IN	79.6	76	84
12	Lee's Summit, MO	78.9	71	86
13	Sioux Falls, SD	78.3	83	73
14	Fishers, IN	78.2	76	81
15	Des Moines, IA	78.1	89	67
16	Lincoln, NE	78.0	75	81
17	Pittsburgh, PA	78.0	81	75
18	Tyler, TX	77.0	89	65
19	Austin, TX	76.6	75	78
20	Boston, MA	76.6	97	56
21	Athens-Clarke County, GA	76.4	73	80
22	South Bend, IN	76.2	95	57
23	Spokane Valley, WA	76.1	89	63
24	Quincy, MA	75.8	92	60
25	Cincinnati, OH	75.8	89	63
26	Washington, DC	75.7	97	54
27	Virginia Beach, VA	75.7	92	59
28	Arlington, VA	75.4	84	67
29	South Fulton, GA	75.0	84	66
30	Spokane, WA	74.9	89	61
31	Ann Arbor, MI	74.6	96	53
32	Albany, NY	74.5	94	55
33	Yonkers, NY	74.5	85	64
34	Columbus, OH	74.5	77	72
35	Cary, NC	74.5	72	77
36	Fort Wayne, IN	74.3	77	71
37	Columbia, MO	74.2	78	71
38	Nampa, ID	74.1	78	71
39	Olathe, KS	73.7	83	64
40	Kansas City, MO	73.7	75	73

Methodology

The mean of the AreaProfile Opportunity and Physical Resilience signals, published only where both are available. Weighting them equally is deliberate: this ranking is about the balance between the two, not about which matters more.

What is excluded, and why

Cities under 100,000 residents, and cities where either signal could not be produced.

The top 40 of the 351 cities that meet these criteria are listed.

Sources

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Local Area Unemployment Statistics (la)
Federal Emergency Management Agency — National Risk Index (1.20.0)
U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) (2024)

Full details of how signals and the Area Score are calculated are on the methodology page, and how rankings like this one are built and reviewed is on the editorial policy page.