The 21 best cities in the Northeast to live in after the coronavirus

If you're considering leaving New York City for a less populated area, but don't want to move too far away from the Big Apple, there are plenty of other cities in New York State that are a great place to move to after the novel coronavirus pandemic.

We recently created an overall ranking of best US cities to live in after the pandemic based on several measures that may influence someone's decision about where to move to next. These measures include the pre-coronavirus unemployment rate, ability to work from home, population density, housing affordability, monthly housing costs, cost of living, average travel time to work, total elementary- and secondary-school spending per student, and share of residents age 25 and over who have at least a bachelor's degree.

We included the share of residents who have at least a bachelor's degree and a metro area's population density because recent research by Moody's Analytics found that less densely populated places with a larger share of jobs requiring more education may recover earlier than other cities from the economic impact of the pandemic.

After collecting our metrics, each measure was rescaled to a uniform z-score so that we could add the values together to get a final overall index for each metro area.

In our overall list, many of the cities at the top of the list are in the Midwest, so we decided to take a more regional focus and look at cities located in the Northeast region of the US as defined by the Census Bureau . In this smaller list, the top three cities were all in New York State.

It's worth noting that some of these cities are home to big colleges and universities, and their economies have been negatively impacted from schools moving to remote learning and temporarily closing their campuses.

For instance, Ithaca placed second on our list of Northeastern cities, but its nature as a college town could hamper its economy because of a lack of students and visitors during the outbreak. Using 2017-2018 fiscal year data from the labor-market analytics company EMSI, The Wall Street Journal found that Cornell University in Ithaca generates $1.8 billion from university operations, $60 million from student spending, and $50 million from visitor spending.

Read on to find out the 21 best cities in the Northeast of the US to move to after the coronavirus:

21. Hartford, Connecticut

BusinessInsider USA Images

Alexander Farnsworth/Getty Images

Hartford has the fourth-highest share of jobs that can potentially be done from home among metro areas in the Northeast at 43.6%. The city also has the ninth-highest total spending per student in elementary and secondary public schools for cities among all US metros, where the school district in the metro area with the most students enrolled spends $20,383 per pupil. The pre-coronavirus unemployment rate was also close to the national average in February at 3.8%.

20. Altoona, Pennsylvania

BusinessInsider USA Images

Michael Shanafelt / Shutterstock.com

Altoona's cost of living is 9.5% lower than the national average. 72.1% of households spend less than 30% of their income on housing, and the average housing cost was $738 per month, with both of these measures ranked among the top 100 US metro areas.

19. Glens Falls, New York

BusinessInsider USA Images

James Casil / EyeEm/Getty Images

Glens Falls is among the 100 US metro areas with the lowest population density at 74 people per square mile, which is also the second-lowest population density of metro areas just in the Northeast. Of metro areas in the Northeast region, this city has one of the lowest average housing costs at $956 a month.

18. Elmira, New York

BusinessInsider USA Images

DenisTangneyJr/Getty Images

Of all US metro areas, Elmira has the 15th-highest total spending per student in elementary and secondary public schools, where the school district in the metro area with the most students enrolled spends $18,551 per pupil. Of the metro areas in the Northeast region of the US, Elmira has the third-lowest average housing cost at $795 a month and tied for the 11th-lowest cost of living at 4.5% lower than the national average.

17. Johnstown, Pennsylvania

BusinessInsider USA Images

Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Johnstown has the highest housing affordability out of all the cities in the Northeast, where 74.4% of households spend less than 30% of their income on housing. The city's cost of living is 13.7% lower than the national average, which is among the 100 US metro areas with the lowest cost of living. However, the pre-coronavirus unemployment rate of 5.8% was 2.3 percentage points higher than the national rate in February.

16. Williamsport, Pennsylvania

BusinessInsider USA Images

Thelma Lanteigne/EyeEm/Getty Images

Williamsport has the fourth-lowest cost of living among cities in the Northeast at 7.8% lower than the national average and also the ninth-lowest average housing cost among these cities at $821 a month. However, the city's pre-coronavirus unemployment rate of 5.3% was 1.8 percentage points higher than the national rate in February.

15. Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania

BusinessInsider USA Images

Wayne Hutchinson/Farm Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Bloomsburg's cost of living is 7.4% lower than the national average. Of the cities in the Northeast, Bloomsburg had one of shortest weekly commutes at 3 hours and 32 minutes. Additionally, the city has the seventh-lowest average housing cost among metro areas in the Northeast at $816 a month.

14. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

BusinessInsider USA Images

Jon Bilous/Shutterstock

Harrisburg was among the 100 US metro areas with the highest share of jobs that could be done from home at 38.5%. This is also the 12th-highest share among metro areas in the Northeast. Additionally, Harrisburg has the fifth-highest share of housing affordability among metro areas in the Northeast, where 72.1% of households spend less than 30% of their income on housing.

13. Pittsfield, Massachussetts

BusinessInsider USA Images

AP Images/Alan Solomon

Pittsfield's pre-coronavirusunemploymentrate of 3.4% was close to the national rate in February. The city's cost of living is also only 1.6% lower than the national average. Of the cities in the Northeast, the city has the sixth-lowest population density of around 135 people per square mile.

12. Bangor, Maine

BusinessInsider USA Images

DenisTangneyJr/Getty Images

Bangor's per-pupil spending in the metro area's school district with the most students enrolled is in the top 100, at $13,554 per pupil. 69.8% of households spend less than 30% of their income on housing in Bangor, indicating better housing affordability than most metro areas in the Northeast region of the US.

11. Portland, Maine

BusinessInsider USA Images

Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo

Portland's pre-coronavirus unemployment rate of 2.5% was 1.0 percentage points lower than the national unemployment rate in February. Additionally, 41.5% of residents who are at least 25 years old have at least a bachelor's degree, which is among the 100 metro areas with the highest share and the eighth-highest share among metro areas in the Northeast.

10. Albany, New York

BusinessInsider USA Images

Dennis Macdonald/Getty Images

Albany had the fifth-highest share of jobs that could be done at home of all Northeast metro areas at 42.4%, which is also among the highest shares among 100 US metro areas. The cost of living in Albany and its pre-coronavirus unemployment rate are both around the national average.

9. Utica, New York

BusinessInsider USA Images

Shutterstock

Among metro areas in the Northeast region of the US, Utica has the fourth-lowest average housing cost at around $797 a month, which is also lower than most US metro areas. The city also has the fifth-lowest population density of cities in the Northeast at 110 people per square mile.

8. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

BusinessInsider USA Images

Gene J. Puskar/AP

In Pittsburgh, 72.5% of households spend less than 30% of their income on housing, indicating better housing affordability than most US metro areas. The city also has an average housing cost of $906 a month. Overall, the cost of living in this city is 6.9% lower than the national average.

7. Buffalo, New York

BusinessInsider USA Images

DenisTangneyJr/Getty Images

Buffalo has the fifth-highest total spending per student in elementary and secondary public schools among all metro areas, where the school district in the metro area with the most students enrolled spends $21,649 per pupil. Among metro areas in the Northeast region of the US, Buffalo had the 10th-lowest cost of living at 5.2% lower than the national average. The city also had one of the shortest weekly commutes among metro areas in the Northeast at 3 hours and 36 minutes.

6. Burlington, Vermont

BusinessInsider USA Images

Shutterstock/Sean Pavone

Burlington's pre-coronavirus unemployment rate of 1.9% in February was the lowest among all metro areas in the US. It was one of the metro areas in the Northeast with the best housing affordability, where 66.8% spend less than 30% of their income on housing.

5. Binghamton, New York

BusinessInsider USA Images

debra millet/shutterstock

Binghamton has the fifth-lowest average housing cost out of metro areas in the Northeast at $802 a month. Across all US metro areas, the city has the 10th-highest total spending per student in elementary and secondary public schools, where the school district in the metro area with the most students enrolled spends $20,358 per pupil.

4. State College, Pennsylvania

BusinessInsider USA Images

Kristopher Kettner/Shutterstock

State College was ranked the 26th- best city to move to in our overall list. The city's pre-coronavirus unemployment rate of 3.6% was close to national rate in February. Additionally, 46.7% of residents who are at least 25 years old have a bachelor's degree or higher, the 18th-highest share among metro areas and the fourth-highest among metro areas in the Northeast region of the US.

3. Syracuse, New York

BusinessInsider USA Images

Barry Winiker/Getty Images

Syracuse was ranked the No. 21 city to move to in our overall list. The city has a higher share of jobs that can potentially be done from home than most US metro areas at 38.0%, and the 16th-lowest average housing cost out of the metro areas in the Northeast, at $952 a month. It is also among the metro areas in the Northeast with the lowest cost of living at 3.5% lower than the national average.

2. Ithaca, New York

BusinessInsider USA Images

Walter Bibikow/Getty Images

Ithaca was ranked the 19th- best city to move to in our overall list. The metro area has the sixth-largest share of residents in the US with a bachelor's degree or higher, at 51.9%. Among metro areas in the Northeast, it has the third-shortest weekly commute at 3 hours and 19 minutes and the seventh-highest share of jobs that could be done from home at 41.64%.

1. Rochester, New York

BusinessInsider USA Images

StanRohrer/Getty Images

Rochester was the seventh-best city to move to in our overall list. The city has a high share of jobs that could be done from home compared to other US metro areas at 39.3%. It also has the the second-highest spending per student all among US metro areas, where the metro area school district with the most students enrolled spends a total of $24,943 per pupil in elementary and secondary public schools.