Where’s the love? No Florida cities made Top 200 list for quality of life in U.S.

If you ask some of the more than 22 million Floridians residing in the Sunshine State, no doubt many would praise the quality of life, with no state income taxes and plenty of beaches. But in a new ranking of highest quality of life among 500 U.S. cities, no municipality from Florida was even in the Top 200.

The ranking compiled by home lawn maintenance company lawnstarter.com compared 500 of America’s biggest cities. The ranking used factors such as life expectancy, unemployment rates, worker’s rights and food security among other metrics to determine a matrix of quality-of-life scores.

While Florida cities were totally absent from the Top 200, the Southeast United States in general had few cities in the Top 100.

The rankings leaned heavily in favor of West Coast U.S. cities. Redmond, Washington, topped the list of cities with the highest quality of life. Bellevue, Washington, was ranked fourth.

Three cities from California were among the top cities in the Top 10 for quality of life, as were two cities from Minnesota. Newton, Massachusetts, ranked second and Castle Rock, Colorado, rounded out the elite group at 10th.

The study concluded employee considerations at workplaces contributed to higher quality-of-life rankings.

“Cities from the West Coast, particularly in Washington and California, offer greater employment protections and plenty of social and personal freedoms,” the study stated.

The first Florida city to be listed in the lawnstarter.com ranking was Boca Raton. The Palm Beach County coastal community was ranked 220th on the list. The next closest Florida cities on the list were Orlando at No. 234 and Gainesville at No. 239.

Johns Creek, Georgia, was the highest ranked city from the Southeast U.S. to make the Top 100 list. The largely suburban community of about 82,500 people just north of Atlanta was ranked 61st.

The only other Southeastern cities to crack the Top 100 were Franklin, Tennessee and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Franklin was ranked 73rd and Mount Pleasant was 84th.

California, by far, was the best represented in the Top 100 cities for quality of life. About 40 California towns were in the Top 100.