US Counties With the Highest Natural Amenities Scale

3,062 US counties ranked by natural amenities scale, from highest to lowest. First are Ventura County, CA (11.2), Humboldt County, CA (11.2) and Santa Barbara County, CA (11). The middle one of the 3,062 has -0.15.

What this measures

A score for the natural features most people say they like in a place to live: warm, sunny winters, mild summers that are not humid, hills or mountains, and lakes or coast. It adds up six scores, each showing how far a county is above or below the average county, so 0 is average and nine in ten counties fall between -4 and +4. The weather parts are averages for 1941 to 1970. It covers the lower 48 states, not Alaska or Hawaii. Source: USDA ERS Natural Amenities Scale.

For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.

The 100 highest counties

More on natural amenities scale

• US Counties With the Lowest Natural Amenities Scale
• Natural amenities scale by US county: map by year and what it goes with

A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.