U.S. News announced the 125 best places to live in the U.S. Both Colorado and my home, North Carolina, made the list. It's time to compare the two and find the best place to live.

According to U.S. News, the 125 best places to live in the U.S. are determined by analyzing:

the 125 most populous metro areas to find the best places to live. To make the top of the list, a place had to have a good value, be a desirable place to live, have a strong job market and a high quality of life.

Colorado

I've lived in Colorado for less than a year, but I'm already in love. Colorado has two different cities on the '125 Best Places to Live in the USA' list.

  • Colorado Springs - #2
    • Overall score of 7.6
  • Denver - #3
    • Overall score of 7.5

North Carolina

I've lived in North Carolina since elementary school. so roughly 18 years. North Carolina has five different cities on the '125 Best Places to Live in the USA' list.

  • Raleigh/Durham/Chapel HIll - #13
    • Overall score of 7.1
  • Charlotte - #22
    • Overall score of 6.9
  • Asheville - #24
    • Overall score of 6.9
  • Winston-Salem - #43
    • Overall score of 6.7
  • Greensboro - #60
    • Overall score of 6.5

I have been to all of these place in North Carolina and I'm honestly confused why some of them are on the list.

Raleigh/Durham/Chapel is called the Triangle. There are a lot of colleges, green spaces and cool downtowns here. The Triangle should be on the list. Charlotte is the biggest smallest city you'll ever see. As much as possible is packed into Charlotte, including the Panthers, NASCAR and too many venues to name.

Asheville is a very weird, but very cool place in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Its likeness could be compared to Boulder. In college I'd visit Asheville a lot because it was less than two hours away and a gorgeous drive through the mountains. I honestly have no clue why the last two cities are on the list. I think the only thing that's remarkable about Winston-Salem and Greensboro, is their size.

Let's bring it back to Colorado. Although I've never been to Colorado Springs, I have been to Denver -- and I love Denver. If you asked me if I wanted to take a trip to Denver right now, I'd say yes with no hesitation.

If you do some math and average the overall scores together, you'll see Colorado is clearly the winner here. Since I've had an up close and personal experience with both North Carolina and Colorado, I think I can make a sound decision. Sorry to my home of North Carolina, but Colorado has you beat. The cities and mountains are bigger here and even the people are nicer here in Colorado.

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