HEY, 49TH AIN'T BAD. Take it with a grain of salt if you want, but U.S. News & World Report ranked Eau Claire the best place in the badger state to live, and 49th in the country overall. (Pictured is a Sounds Like Summer concert a few years back featuring artist Miles Blvd)

This spring, U.S. News & World Report published its annual Best Places to Live rankings – and Eau Claire landed at the tip-top of Wisconsin’s list. Perhaps more notably, Eau Claire is also ranked in the top 50 across the entire nation.

While some locals roll their eyes at (or, in today’s age, leave a snarky Facebook comment about) Eau Claire's inclusion in such rankings, Volume One has seen dozens of these designations from all kinds of news outlets and blogs over the years (more on that further down in this writeup).

This spring’s U.S. News & World Report is more notable with Eau Claire’s two rankings: No. 1 best place to live in Wisconsin and No. 49 best place to live in the country.

According to its data, U.S. News & World Report pointed to Eau Claire’s mid-sized population (about 71,000), cost of living (about $230,000 in E.C. versus the national average of $370,000), commute time, weather, job market, and more as pros.

The outlet has been publishing its Best Places to Live rankings for a number of years and explains its methodology online. Based on survey responses collected from about 3,500 people ages 45 and up, U.S. News used the following indexes to determine its rankings: Affordability, Happiness, Desirability, Retiree Taxes, Job Market, and Health Care Quality.

When you roll all that up Eau Claire tops the Wisconsin list, which features 14 cities, beating out La Crosse, Oshkosh, Madison, Milwaukee, and others. Across the country, Eau Claire was the only Wisconsin city to crack the top 50, while Johns Creek, Georgia, was named the No. 1 place to live.

But like I said, we've seen Eau Claire pop up on a ton of other roundups, "must-visit" rankings, and other online outlets over the years. So, you can take all that with a grain of salt, but it's worth noting E.C. has gained a not-insignificant amount of coverage over the years.

Proof: In "Midwest Living" alone, Eau Claire has received a number of shoutouts over the years, including in its 2024 roundup of “The 15 Coolest Things Happening in the Midwest in September”; “Best State Parks in Wisconsin”; and the recent “Here’s Where Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon Loves to Go When He Visits His Wisconsin Hometown.”

More regional proof: Both Minnesota Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Radio have given Eau Claire a number of nods; Minnesota’s Star Tribune called Eau Claire one of the “Best Places to Go in 2017”; Eau Claire’s nightlife, outdoors, and grub scene has gotten love from Milwaukee Magazine, Madison Magazine, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, and Chicago Tribune.

And non-regional nods aren’t uncommon either. Time Magazine – yes, THAT Time Magazine – dedicated a whole spread on Eau Claire’s music scene back in 2016. The story was part of a series called “Reasons to Celebrate America,” with the arts playing a significant role in Time’s story.

Former Time Magazine Managing Editor, Steve Koepp, wrote about Eau Claire back in 2016.

In recent years, some online outlets have shared roundups calling Eau Claire one of the country’s most “livable” cities – often guided by economy-related data – which isn’t really a newsflash given the past decade-plus of similar coverage.

So, there you have it, Eau Claire has landed on another online outlet's roundup of cool places to live. Commence snarky comments!