Cities With The Strongest Sense Of Community

Living in a large city can be lonely at times, but having a good support system can be essential in living a healthier, happier life — and is a cornerstone of recovery. With this in mind, we wondered which cities throughout America had the strongest sense of community? Our article will take a look at cities across the nation and their “sense of community.”

Why Community Matters in Recovery

One of the important components of addiction recovery is having a sense of community and support. Having a community of like-minded peers can help you to avoid feeling isolated, can help make connections with others, and can provide support through all of life’s ups and down. Additionally, having a peer support network can help you find new healthy habits and can provide opportunities to help others.

Top Ten Cities with the Strongest Communities

To calculate our rankings, we looked at the top 50 metropolitan areas throughout the United States and used numerous factors, and weighted each factor from 0-100 to calculate an overall “community score.” These factors included:

• The amount of community events in each city.
• The amount of community centers.
• Walkability.
• The number of parks.
• Community happiness score.
• Crime rates.

10. Austin, TX

Austin comes in at number ten in our list of cities with the strongest sense of community. This eclectic city offers a wide range of activities throughout the year and is home to the annual South-by-Southwest festival.

In terms of walkability, Austin scored the lowest of our top ten, but was among the highest in community happiness and the number of parks.

9. Denver, CO

The Mile High City — Denver — comes in at number nine on our list. This city has a bustling downtown with plenty of things to do. It’s location just east of the Rocky Mountains makes Denver a great destination for people who want to participate in outdoor activities, like skiing and hiking.

Denver has one of the higher walkability and community happiness scores.

8. Minneapolis, MN

This twin city is known for its bustling arts scene and collection of lakes that dotting its urban areas. It’s no wonder that this city scored well for its parks and community happiness. Minneapolis has a fairly high walkability score as well.

7. Washington, D.C.

It may come as a surprise that our nation’s capitol ranks in the top ten of places with the strongest sense of community. This bustling urban environment is highly walkable, has plenty of parks, and enough museums, art centers, and events to keep weekends full with fun things to do.

6. San Jose, CA

San Jose, located in central California just south of San Francisco, is a sunny California city with a vibrant cultural scene. It’s connection with Silicon Valley tech helps make it rank toward the top of our list of cities with the strongest sense of community. San Jose boasts a low crime rate, as well as a good rating for community events and beautiful parks.

5. Boston, MA

Boston has one of the best quality of life scores in the world, according to Deutsche Bank. This city is home to a number of museums and family-friendly centers, which helps account for it’s overall high community happiness score. One of the highest ranked in terms of walkability, getting around Boston is a breeze, too.

4. San Diego, CA

This sunny southern California city is home to a number of museums, beaches, and parks. Ranking in the top five of our cities with the strongest sense of community, San Diego scored the best for its parks and overall community happiness.

3. New York, NY

The city so nice they named it twice, New York is a fast-paced metropolis full of museums, sight seeing, parks, and activities. They say it’s pretty hard to be bored in New York and this certainly rings true because we found that, overall, New York is the best city for community events

2. San Francisco, CA

The City by the Bay is home to a vibrant arts and culture scene and is well known for its counter-culture history. Despite its hilly landscape, San Francisco scored the highest for walkability and came in strong with great rankings for overall community happiness, park score, and sense of community.

1. Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles ranks at the top because of its high marks for its community centers and parks, walkability, and crime rate. Los Angeles is the city with the strongest sense of community in the country overall. A strong community is vital in supporting individuals faced with drug addictions onto the road to recovery.

Other Takeaways from Our Community Score Report

• Community happiness was another contributing factor to sense of community, and Austin, Minneapolis, Nashville, Raleigh, San Diego, and San Antonio were the top scoring cities in this category.
• Washington, D.C. scored well in overall community happiness and community events.
• Overall, New York and Pittsburgh scored the highest for the number of community events they offer and Los Angeles scores the highest for the number of community centers.
• New York and San Francisco scored the highest for walkability, and a wide range of cities, including Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Nashville, New Orleans, Phoenix, San Diego, and Virginia Beach, scored the highest for parks.
• Las Vegas and Louisville, KY scored the best for having low crime in their communities.
• Interestingly, four of the top ten cities lacking in community are clustered closely together, with Cleveland, Detroit, Columbus, and Indianapolis all featuring low scores across the board.
• It’s fitting that Memphis is the home of the blues as, sadly, this city has the lowest sense of community score due to its low scores across the board for community events, community centers, walkability, community happiness, and crime rate.
• California contains four of the top ten cities with the strongest sense of community. Los Angeles ranks in the top because of its high marks for its community centers and parks, walkability, and crime rate. San Francisco, San Diego, and San Jose rank 2nd, 4th, and 6th respectively.
• It’s fitting that Memphis is the home of the blues as, sadly, this city has the lowest sense of community score due to its low scores across the board for community events, community centers, walkability, community happiness, and crime rate.
• Southern hospitality and charm must be doing something right as the best city throughout the country for community happiness overall is Raleigh. Nashville, San Antonio, and Austin are also featured in the top 5 with their southern charm.

Addiction Aftercare Support Near Dallas, TX

Having an aftercare plan to support your continued recovery efforts is an important part of your journey, and having a sense of community is a key part of that plan. At Greenhouse Treatment Center, we work with you to develop skills to cope with triggers, and work with you to build an aftercare plan that can give you concrete steps to help maintain the gains you made in treatment.

Contact our knowledgeable and helpful admissions navigators at to learn more about our different levels of care at our inpatient rehab in Grand Prairie, TX. They can also give you more information about our sober living home in Arlington, and answer your questions about how to pay for rehab — including using your insurance for treatment.