Columbia Accolades

COMO Rocks

Columbia is consistently rated among the top cities in the nation by national magazines and organizations:


Midwest College Campuses That Are Great to Visit | August 2023

Top 10 Small Cities in America For Freelancers | June 2023

#7 in the Top 10 Best Small Cities for Remote Work from Forage | December 2022

Top 10 Most Livable College Towns in America from Strategistico.com | July 2022

Best Places to Retire from Forbes.com | June 2022

#6 Most Affordable Outdoorsy Places to Live from Realtor.com | June 2022

#28 of 50 Best Places to Live in the U.S. from CBS News | April 2022

#40 in Top 100 Best Places to Live from Livability.com | October 2021

Best Places to Live from Niche | June 2021

#29 in 50 Best College Towns in America from Best College Reviews | April 2021

Best Places to Live from Livability | 2020

Great Place to Retire from Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Adviser | July 2020

The Most Educated City from Insurify | July 2019

The Fastest-growing city in Missouri from MSN | April 2019

One of the Best Places to Retire in 2019 from Forbes | April 2019

Featured Destination from DatingAdvice.com: Columbia’s Urban & Rural Attractions Engage Couples on a Date | March 2018

20 Must-see Literary Destinations Around the World from Expedia Viewfinder | March 2018

Missouri’s Best Place To Live in Every State from MSN.com | January 2018

2018 Top 100 Best Places to Live from Livability.com | January 2018

Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index gave Columbia a perfect score of 100 | October 2017

26 Most Stylish Cities in the US Right Now, ranked from Expedia Viewfinder | August 2017

The 20 Best College Towns in America from Business Insider | July 2017

The 50 Best Smaller College Towns with the Best Music Scenes from Good Deed Seats | May 2017

Citizen Jane Film Festival makes MovieMaker.com’s list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee in 2017

Columbia #9 on Profascinate’s list of Top 10 Best College Towns in America | March 2017

America’s Most Artistic Towns from Expedia Viewfinder | February 2017

The best cities to start a business in 2017 – #5 Columbia | February 2017

Redbox identifies America’s most romantic cities – #6 Columbia | February 2017

Second best place for working women from CNBC and SmartAsset | November 2016

Columbia made FlipKey’s list of 6 amazing small cities for a family vacation | November 2016

CBS News listed Columbia among the 25 best cities to live in | 2016

Columbia is #42 on the 50 Best Bike Cities of 2016 | September 2016

PureWow’s The 19 Best College Towns in America | August 2016

Business Insider’s The 30 Best College Towns in America – #15 Columbia | July 2016

Columbia makes SmartAssets.com’s list of Least Stressed Cities in America again | June 2016

Columbia is #6 on SmartAsset.com’s Top 10 Cities for Working Parents

The 25 best small college towns from USAToday | Columbia, MO makes #11

The 10 Best Film Festivals You’ve Never Heard Of from Huffington Post | Citizen Jane Film Festival and True/False Film Fest

2015’s Best & Worst College Cities & Towns in America from WalletHub.com | #10 Columbia MO

True/False Film Fest – 20 Best Under-the-Radar Film Festivals in 2016 from VacationIdea.com

The Top 10 Colleges for Dog Lovers – #1 Stephens College | CollegeMagazine.com

#1 place in the nation to survive the zombie apocalypse from FindTheHome.com

#3 on TheStreet.com’s ‘10 Best College Towns to Live in, Even If You’re Not a Student

#46 Columbia, MO in Livability.com’s Top 100 Best Places to Live in the US 2016

25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World 2015: both Citizen Jane Film Festival and True/False Film Fest made the list (moviemaker.com)

The Least Stressed Cities in America: #5 Columbia, MO (SmartAsset.com)

Best Winemaker in Kansas City and Mid-Missouri and Best Destination Winery in Mid-MO: Les Bourgeois, Rocheport (Feast Magazine)

Best Burger in Mid-Missouri: Booches (Feast Magazine)

Columbia, MO is the #3 Best College Town in the nation, Summer 2015 (Livability.com)

MKT Trail #2 Best Urban Trail in the nation, Summer 2015 (USAToday)

Columbia Farmers Market was named one of America’s 50 Best Farmers Markets by Clean Eating Magazine, Summer 2015

Stephens College ranked among the 25 Great Small Colleges for Animal Lovers from GreatValueColleges.net, Summer 2015

USA Swimming named Columbia the #1 Top Swim City in the smaller population category, Summer 2015

Columbia’s Sub Shop made the list of 10 places in Missouri that make the best sandwiches ever, Summer 2015 (Onlyinyourstate.com)

Twin Lakes Recreation Area’s Dog Park is #7 – “Here are the absolute ultimate 16 dog parks in the US” by BarkPost.com, Summer 2015

10 Best Craft Breweries in Missouri – Logboat Brewery, Summer 2015 (TheCultureTrip.com)

25 Best Commuter Cities in Missouri – #16 Columbia, May 2015 (Obrella.com)

10 Best Small Cities for Educated Millennials – #6 Columbia, May 2015 (Business Insider)

Best midsize cities for women in the workforce – #5 Columbia, Spring 2015 (NerdWallet.com)

Ranking the SEC College Towns, #8 Columbia, April 2015 (AthlonSports.com)

True/False Film Fest #6 on USAToday’s list of 10 Best Film Festivals, Spring 2015

Columbia is one of Forbes’ 25 Best Places to Retire in 2015

10 Best Dynamite Day Trips – #2 Columbia, January 2015 (USAToday)

25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World 2014 – True/False Film Fest (MovieMaker.com)

31 Best College Bars in the US – Harpo’s (Business Insider) 2014

Top 13 Small Cities in Missouri – #1 Columbia 2014 (CitiesJournal)

25 Healthiest Colleges in the US – #6 University of Missouri Columbia (Greatist.com) 2014

The Best Small Cities for Jobs in 2014 – #3 Columbia (Forbes)

29 Amazing Places You Have to see in the Fall – Columbia (Dose.com)

10 Veteran-Friendly Schools to Consider in 2014 – University of Missouri (Task & Purpose)

The Best Journalism Schools in the Country – #1 University of Missouri Columbia (NewsPro Magazine) 2013

America’s Hardest Working Towns 2012 – #1 Columbia (Forbes)