Business Insider ranked Jefferson City as the second best place to live in the United States after the coronavirus pandemic.
In a Thursday story, Business Insider ranked Jefferson City No. 2 on its list of "30 best American cities to live in after the pandemic."
Springfield, Illinois, was the only city to rank higher than Jefferson City on the list.
Columbia was ranked No. 10.
Many people are considering moving while also working remotely, according to Business Insider. For that reason, Business Insider created a list of the best places to live after the pandemic.
Business Insider used nine measures to rank cities: pre-coronavirus unemployment rate, ability to work from home, population density, housing affordability, monthly household costs, cost of living, weekly two-way work commute, total elementary- and secondary-school spending per student, and share of residents ages 25 and older who have at least a bachelor's degree.
Business Insider attributed Jefferson City's cost of living as the biggest factor for the ranking.
Missy Bonnot, Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce economic development director and interim president and CEO, said the chamber was excited Business Insider recognized Jefferson City's "stable economy."
Jefferson City's cost of living is about 18 percent lower than the national average, Bonnot said. About 77 percent of Jefferson City households spend less than 30 percent of their income on housing, Business Insider noted.
"You get a lot of bang for your buck in our community, so that works in the favor of our businesses and our residents that our cost of living is so low," Bonnot said.
In March, Jefferson City's unemployment rate was about 3.4 percent, Bonnot said, lower than the national unemployment rate. The national unemployment rate in March was 4.4, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
During the next month, hundreds of businesses in the U.S. saw a sharp decline in revenue and millions of employees lost their jobs, causing the national unemployment rate in April to jump to 14.7 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Bonnot anticipated a large spike in Jefferson City's April unemployment rate. It ended up rising by 3.1 percent, to 6.5 percent, which "is still relatively low and much lower than the national unemployment rate," she said.
"Typically we don't have the high highs and we don't have the low lows," Bonnot said. "Our economy is very stable, so in times like the 2008 recession or the 2020 pandemic, that is a positive thing."
Jefferson City beat out towns like Lincoln, Nebraska; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Rochester, New York; Columbus, Indiana; Des Moines, Iowa; and Cheyenne, Wyoming, in the Business Insider listing.
"I think that it shows that our economy is strong and that even post-COVID we will come back even stronger," Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin said. "We have a great city, and the residents who live here know that, but to see us ranked that high on a list like that was very exciting and it shows that we have a lot to offer."
While the Business Insider story references only the economic strengths of Jefferson City, Tergin said, the Capital City also offers several tourist attractions and a welcoming community.