What makes your community a nice place to live? Is it feeling safe and secure, or having access to parks and services? Maybe it’s all about having your family close, or lots of opportunities for career advancement. A great place to live can be all of those things—and if you love your community, no doubt it has many of those attributes.
But community also lives “in the small, repeated contacts of daily life—the neighbor who waves every morning, the co-worker who checks in when you seem off, the person at the coffee shop who remembers your order,” says Lucy Rose, the founder of The Cost of Loneliness Project, who is on a mission to combat loneliness and build human connection. The way she sees it, community “is the web of relationships where people feel seen and know they matter.”
Since 2017, we’ve conducted an annual search for the Nicest Places in America, highlighting amazing hometowns (and even a few individual businesses) that celebrate the idea of community as not just a place to live and work, but somewhere you really feel part of the broader whole. We’ve had some incredible winners over the last 10 years, and to commemorate this milestone anniversary, we thought we’d help you make your community the very best it can be.
We talked to Rose, as well as Spud Marshall, founder of My Creative Community and the author of Designing Creative Communities, to learn tangible tips for making your hometown an even nicer place to live. We also checked in with Laura Marshall, founder of Give InKind, to find out the best ways to respond in a crisis. Here’s how to strengthen your own community and create a place you can truly call home.
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What qualifies as a “nice” place?
“The answer changes from person to person—a new parent, a retiree and a 22-year-old need very different things from the same town,” Marshall says. But we can start with a few basics.
“Safety, services and green space matter, and they create the conditions where connection can grow,” Rose says. “So do the places where people naturally gather: accessible sports leagues, arts events, the local restaurant that turns into an unofficial neighborhood hangout.”
But the idea of a nice place to live goes beyond things to do. “What ties all of those together is whether people walk away feeling like they belong,” Rose says. “What I hear again and again in my work is that people remember how a place made them feel more than what it offered them.”
Often, that comes down to finding human connection. Marshall says what sets a nice place apart is the “density of weak ties—the number of people you may recognize but don’t (yet) know well.” It’s these casual acquaintances that connect you to the broader whole. “The social-capital research backs this up, and honestly, you can feel it just walking down a street.”
Marshall even has a test: “How many places in your town can you go alone and reliably run into someone you know? That number tells you more than any ‘best places to live’ ranking.”
How active is the process of creating a great place to live?
It’s as active as you want it to be. Nice places to live don’t just spring up out of nowhere, so the more you put in, the more you get out. But being active doesn’t have to mean joining a club or signing up for a long-term commitment.
“Real impact often comes without any formal structure at all,” Rose says. “Checking on an elderly neighbor after a storm counts. So does inviting a new co-worker to lunch, or holding the door and actually asking someone how their day is going, then waiting for the real answer.”
Of course, if you want to get involved more formally, that’s great too. But don’t overlook the active participation of just being there for someone. “Those gestures matter more to the person on the receiving end than most of us realize, and they add up when people make a habit of noticing instead of waiting for a program to organize it for them,” Rose says.
How can you strengthen your own community?
“Start with proximity,” Rose says. Look at what you’re already doing and go from there.
“Here’s what most people miss: You already belong to more communities than you realize,” Marshall says. “The dog park at 7 a.m., the same grocery checkout line, the parents at daycare pickup.” It’s easier than you think. “The work isn’t finding community,” Marshall explains. “It’s noticing the communities you’re already in and adding one ounce of intention into them.”
Here are some expert-approved, tangible ways you can strengthen your community right now. If one doesn’t speak to you, try the next one. “The best option is the one that fits naturally into the life you’re already living,” Rose says.
Introduce yourself
This one might be daunting, but it’s worth it. “Introduce yourself to a neighbor you haven’t met,” Rose says. You don’t have to go knock on their door or anything—just take a lap around the block a few nights a week. When you pass someone doing yard work or sitting on their porch, instead of looking at your phone or keeping your earbuds in, look up and say hi, along with your name. Most people will respond in kind.
“Warm, attentive neighbors can make a town with modest amenities feel like home,” Rose says.
Go to a local event
No matter what size town you live in, there’s probably a local gathering going on sometime in the near future. It could be a library book fair, a church potluck or a local band playing down at the corner bar. Look on community message boards for events that sound fun to you.
You don’t have to know anyone there, Rose says: “Show up to a local event, even if you’re going alone.” If that makes you nervous, remember that everyone else is there for the same reason: to enjoy a nice evening under the stars, find a book to read or support the same charity. If you meet someone, great. If you go home feeling that you’re not alone in this world, even better.
Host an informal gathering
“Host the low-bar thing, not the big thing,” Marshall says. “My wife and I host potluck brainstorms at our house with the simple goal of inviting strangers together to dream up new ways of making a difference in their town.” If you’re not sure how to get strangers on board, start with people you know and ask them to bring a friend.
Who knows? Your small event could turn into something more. “The fun part is that [our] informal gathering turned into a series of formal groups over the years,” Marshall says. “And many of those groups have gone on to create significant impacts in our community.”
Change up something you already do
The simple act of putting your current group into new situations can foster community. “I also run kayak meetings and frisbee golf meetings instead of coffee, because doing something side by side is what lets people talk about the real stuff,” Marshall says. “It feels more real and memorable but doesn’t require joining a formal group of any sort.”
Volunteer
Is there an issue that’s close to your heart? “Volunteer somewhere that puts you face-to-face with people,” Rose says. This could be walking dogs at the animal shelter, sorting donated food or clothing at your church or a local shelter, or signing up to drive your neighbors to vote. Having a task keeps you busy, so you’ll feel less pressure to make small talk (though you’ll be surprised how easily conversations will come), and you’ll foster community while you’re at it.
Think small
Marshall says building community is all about making small moves. You don’t have to spend every Saturday at the soup kitchen to make a difference. “Learn and actually use the names of five neighbors,” Marshall says. Once you know them, you can be the conduit for other connections. “Be the person who introduces two other people—a connector builds community without ever running anything.”
Say “yes”
“Another important starting point is to say yes to the invitation you’d normally decline,” Marshall says. Do you always say “no” when your friend asks you to go hiking or play pickleball? Next time, change up your answer. “You’d be surprised where that ‘yes’ may lead you.”
What should you do when your community is facing a crisis?
It might seem strange to think about building community during a crisis, but it’s in these tough times that people come together. “Crisis tends to strip away the usual social distance between people, and that’s actually an opening,” Rose says. “When needs are acute, your direct presence and attention can matter as much as any supplies you bring.”
Here’s what you can do to help your community in a crisis.
Offer to be the point person
If the immediate crisis has spared you, offer to either check in with a point person or be that point of contact for your community, Malcolm says. If you can, organize a meal train, offer to set up a donation page, rally neighbors for support, or give your neighbor a call and just ask: “Hey, neighbor, this crisis is happening. Can I be the point of contact?”
Malcolm’s organization, Give InKind, hosts donation pages for people going through tough times. “You can take on setting up a page and find out exactly what’s needed, and people can come on and give support in those different ways that can be helpful,” she says.
Check in on vulnerable neighbors
When natural disasters and other emergencies happen, we tend to look inward because the immediate needs are so acute. But don’t forget your neighbors, whether that’s the elderly man who just lost his wife or a person with special needs who might be frightened by the commotion.
“Check on people who live alone,” Rose says. “That’s a really big one,” Malcolm agrees. Also remember that crises take many forms, not just tornadoes and hurricanes. “We have seniors who check themselves out of the hospital AMA [against medical advice] because there’s no one there to walk their dog.”
When things start getting back to normal, “stay in contact after the initial crisis passes, because that’s often when the isolation sets in hardest, once everyone else’s attention has moved on,” Rose says.
Adjust your help to the need
Helping your neighbors will take different forms depending on the crisis. “If their house burned down, it might be gift cards for Airbnb or Home Depot,” Malcolm says. “If they have a child in the hospital, it might be that they need meals dropped off every night at a certain time for when they get home.”
Be specific about what you will do
Instead of asking generally what people need, Malcolm says it’s better to offer specific help. “Look for a thing that you know you can do, and offer to do it,” she says. “Say, ‘I’ll be responsible for wheeling your bins to the curb every week for the next six weeks unless you let me know otherwise.'”
Or if you’re organizing a meal train for someone, you might say, “We’re putting a cooler on your step, and we’ll let people know that if they’re dropping off meals, they should put them in the cooler between 5 and 6,” Malcolm says. “Let us know whether you want visitors.”
What’s the one thing you can do every day to make your hometown a “nicest place”?
For you and me, it might be hard to single out one thing to do every day. But Rose and Marshall had answers immediately, and they were surprisingly aligned.
“Be the one who says hello first,” Marshall says. “It sounds too small to matter, but it’s the whole ballgame–every relationship in your town starts with one person deciding not to look at their phone.” Or take it one step further: “Give away one specific useful thing a day: an introduction, a recommendation, a ride, 10 minutes of what you know.”
As for Rose? “Notice someone. Make eye contact, ask a real question, and listen to the answer,” she says. “It doesn’t take much time, but it’s also rare. Most people move through their day surrounded by others and still feel unseen. A single moment of genuine attention can interrupt that for someone, and it costs nothing.”
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Sources:
- Lucy Rose, founder of The Cost of Loneliness Project; email interview, Sept. 16, 2026
- Spud Marshall, founder of My Creative Community and author of Designing Creative Communities; email interview, Sept. 16, 2026
- Laura Malcolm, founder of Give InKind; phone interview, Sept. 17, 2026
- Stanford Report: “50 years on, Mark Granovetter’s ‘The Strength of Weak Ties’ is stronger than ever”
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