7 California cities ranked among the best places to live in US

California may have the sunshine, beaches and a laid-back lifestyle, but its cities didn’t exactly glow at the top of this list.Seven California cities made U.S.

News & World Report’s ranking of the 250 best places to live in the country — though none landed near the upper end.Dublin took the top spot in the state, ranking No.119 nationally.

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By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story The East Bay city is known for its central location and has been dubbed the “crossroads of the San Francisco Bay Area” because it sits at the major junction of Interstates 580 and 680.Even so, that central location doesn’t necessarily mean a speedy commute.

Residents spend an average of 31.2 minutes getting to work — about nine minutes longer than the national average.The city’s job market, however, fares better than the country’s average, with unemployment hovering around 3.42%, compared with 4.54% nationwide.If you want to buy a home in the Golden State’s top-ranked city, though, you’ll have to pay up.Dublin has a higher cost of living compared with similarly sized cities, and the median home value is $1,283,390 — well above the $359,870 national average.And renters aren’t exactly getting a bargain, either.The median rent in Dublin is $2,681.While Dublin generally has a low crime rate compared with state and national averages, the city made headlines this week after a New York Times executive was fatally shot by his elderly in-laws at one of the city’s parks.The victim, Jonathan McKinsey, was a 40-year-old director of engineering for New York Times Games.Cupertino was California’s second-highest entry, earning the No.

140 spot nationwide.Palo Alto followed at No.164, while Sunnyvale landed at No.

225, making it the fourth-highest California city in the ...