What counts as mild weather here?

This ranking favors metros that avoid extremes of both heat and cold based on NOAA 30-year normals, so temperate, moderate climates rise to the top. It's optimized for fewer punishing days rather than for any particular season; our methodology page covers the calculation.

Does this include humidity and rainfall?

No, the focus is temperature moderation, so two metros with similar mildness can feel very different if one is humid or rainy. If comfort is your goal, check local humidity and precipitation patterns once you've narrowed your list.

What if I like seasons and snow?

Then this ranking is partly working against your taste, since it rewards the absence of extremes rather than variety. Climate preference is personal, so use this as a comfort baseline and weight it however it suits you alongside our other rankings.

Mildest weather

The most temperate metros — comfortable yearly averages with the fewest extremes (NOAA 30-yr normals).

Top 50 of 300 metros, ranked by our published formula.

Weather shapes daily life in ways that are easy to underestimate until you've lived through a brutal summer or a punishing winter, and it quietly affects costs like heating and cooling too. This ranking uses NOAA 30-year climate normals to favor the most temperate metros, the ones that avoid both extreme heat and extreme cold, because mild climates tend to mean more comfortable days outdoors and fewer weather-driven expenses. For people relocating by choice rather than for a job, climate is often one of the deciding factors.

Read the leaders as the most consistently mild metros on average, not as the most exciting or scenic ones, since temperance is the whole point of the measure. The caveat is that mild is a long-run average that smooths over humidity, rainfall, storms, and your own personal taste, and some people genuinely prefer four distinct seasons. Treat this as a starting filter for comfort, then check the specifics, like rain and humidity, that the averages don't show.

Common questions

What counts as mild weather here?: This ranking favors metros that avoid extremes of both heat and cold based on NOAA 30-year normals, so temperate, moderate climates rise to the top. It's optimized for fewer punishing days rather than for any particular season; our methodology page covers the calculation.
Does this include humidity and rainfall?: No, the focus is temperature moderation, so two metros with similar mildness can feel very different if one is humid or rainy. If comfort is your goal, check local humidity and precipitation patterns once you've narrowed your list.
What if I like seasons and snow?: Then this ranking is partly working against your taste, since it rewards the absence of extremes rather than variety. Climate preference is personal, so use this as a comfort baseline and weight it however it suits you alongside our other rankings.