California city jumps 399 slots in new ranking of best places to live

A California city made a surprising jump in a new ranking of America’s top places to live for 2025. Santa Monica (more specifically, its City Center area) landed the No. 5 spot on Niche’s new list of the best places to live, up a whopping 399 slots from last year, Zachary Chatham, a spokesperson for Niche, confirmed to SFGATE.