A new Harris poll finds that more people would like to live in or near New York City than any other city. San Diego is the second most popular city, followed by Las Vegas. The next most popular cities are Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, Denver and Boston. The Harris Poll has asked this question almost every year since 1997. New York has been the most popular city in every year except in 1998 when it placed second behind San Francisco.

This reflects the real estate market trends in Nashville TN as during the boom Nashville had a steady growth as apposed to some of the more popular parts of the country and post boom the market in nashville has been steady. The benefit for residents is similar investing in the stock market and sticking with the slow but steady stocks as apposed to the "star" performers. This effectively means that Nashville is a safe bet and may not make you quite as much money in appreciation  when the market is booming, but you won't lose as much if the market crashes!

In another poll conducted by the Harris company Tennessee as a state also does well.

Tennessee is the 11th most popular state, according to a Harris Interactive Poll that asked people which state they would most want to live in, other than the one where they currently live.

California was the number 1 state, followed by Hawaii, Florida, Colorado and Arizona.

Tennessee's ranking was down a couple of spots from last year, when it finished ninth in the poll.

Differences by generation

There is also some disagreement between younger and older people. California tops the list of most popular states to live in among Echo Boomers (now aged 18 to 33) and Gen Xers (aged 34 to 45), Hawaii is the top pick for Baby Boomers (now aged 46 to 64) and Matures (aged 65 and over). Among the Echo Boomers (18-33), Hawaii drops out of the top five.

[SOURCES: Harris Interactive; Nashville Business Journal]