Like the bird for which it’s named, Phoenix is on the rise, at least according to one ranking.
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Last June, the tourism and real estate company Resonance Consultancy ranked Phoenix at No. 25 in its annual list of the 100 best cities in the United States. On Wednesday, the company released its 2026 rankings, and Phoenix continued to climb, moving up to 19th. Two other Arizona cities also made the list, including one for the first time.
Eighteen American cities — led by New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — ranked ahead of Phoenix on Resonance’s list. The U.S.’s hottest city — by temperature, if not buzz — ranked behind Nashville and Portland on the list and ahead of Philadelphia and Tampa. As Resonance wrote, “Phoenix just keeps getting hotter — in the very best way.”
Resonance ranked the cities based on three broad metrics — livability, lovability and prosperity — each of which contained a host of subcategories. Livability metrics include air quality, walkability and housing affordability, while lovability features categories like shopping, nightlife and restaurants. Notable prosperity categories are airports, universities, poverty rate and labor force participation.
Resonance doesn’t break each city down by subcategory, but it does offer some hints about what helped each city. Phoenix ranked 19th in livability, 20th in lovability and 18th in prosperity. It also ranked 11th for its nature and parks and 12th for restaurants.
The 2026 edition evaluated all 393 metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. The polling firm Ipsos also conducted a small survey of 2,000 households that was factored into the rankings.
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The company pointed to the large semiconductor investment and industry in Phoenix as a selling point for the city’s higher ranking, specifically highlighting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s north Phoenix campus. It also called Phoenix “one of North America’s fastest-rising health-tech corridors,” noting the recent groundbreaking on Arizona State University Health’s Phoenix Bioscience Core.
Phoenix’s growing “downtown hospitality” was also cited as a selling point for the city. Resonance pointed to several incoming projects, including the 17-story Denū Hotel and Spa opening at Central Avenue and Adams Street, the VAI Resort in Glendale adjacent to the Mattel Adventure Park, and Republic Service’s new headquarters, which will include 3,400 apartments.
Further down the list, Tucson ranked as the 57th-best city, an 11-spot drop from the year prior. It’s ranked among cities like Memphis, Tennessee and Rochester, New York. It was ranked 71st in livability, 42nd in lovability and 143rd in prosperity.
Flagstaff also squeezed in among the top 100 to make Resonance’s list for the first time, thanks to the company now considering cities with populations of 500,000 or fewer people. Flagstaff ranked at 97th — behind Charlottesville, Virginia, and above Ithaca, New York — finishing 51st in liveability, 233rd in lovability and 97th in prosperity. In a ranking of only small cities, Flagstaff ranked 22nd.
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