ADELANTO — Adelanto makes the top 5 rank for fewest coffee shops per capita according to a Best Small Cities in America 2021 study. WalletHub compared more than 1,300 U.S. cities and ranked them not only for livability but also found a trend of people moving out of large cities for a better quality of life.

The study is based on cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 and 43 key indicators of livability ranging from housing costs to school-system quality to restaurants per capita. 

Several High Desert communities made the list — Apple Valley, Hesperia and Adelanto, respectively, met the study’s definition of a small city. In the below charts all of the columns depict the relative rank of that city, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category with the exception of “Total Score,” where 99 is “Best”.

Apple Valley

Hesperia

Adelanto

Overall, small cities often provide many great benefits to their residents. University of Iowa Associate Professor Jerry Anthony identified five main benefits of small city living. 

“Usually lower-cost housing, a better sense of community and connectedness to events and activities in the community, more opportunities to make a tangible difference through civic engagement, a greater sense of fulfillment and life satisfaction [and…] much less time spent commuting or traveling within the city,” said Anthony.

For more information on WalletHub’s Best Best Small Cities in America 2021 study visit https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-small-cities-to-live-in/16581