CityFunIndex

Leaderboard

Best cities for live music

Every city in the CityFunIndex, ranked by its Live Music score. Music venues and how often live shows actually happen.

Cities ranked
134
Top score
93
Average
49

Pillar scores are national percentile ranks on a saturation curve, so the leader of every category lands near the same ceiling — the ranks beneath are still distinct. See how scoring works →

Cleveland (93) leads, ahead of Atlanta (92) and Boston (92). Anchorage anchors the bottom at 0 — a 93-point gap.

Regional read The top 10 spans 9 different states — no single state dominates this board.

All 134 cities, coloured by live music score band. The top-ranked cities draw larger.

  • Quiet
  • Some Fun
  • Fun
  • Very Fun
  • Exceptional

Score spread across all 134 cities

  • Quiet 40
  • Some Fun 22
  • Fun 31
  • Very Fun 21
  • Exceptional 20
  1. 1st 93 Cleveland, OH Fun Score 77
  2. T-2nd 92 Atlanta, GA Fun Score 88
  3. T-2nd 92 Boston, MA Fun Score 98
  4. T-2nd 92 Seattle, WA Fun Score 100

Ranked 5–134

  1. T#5 91 Asheville, NC Fun Score 85
  2. T#5 91 Cincinnati, OH Fun Score 92
  3. T#5 91 Denver, CO Fun Score 82
  4. T#8 90 San Francisco, CA Fun Score 96
  5. T#8 90 Portland, OR Fun Score 81
  6. T#8 90 Buffalo, NY Fun Score 77
  7. T#11 89 Boise, ID Fun Score 80
  8. T#11 89 Detroit, MI Fun Score 45
  9. T#13 88 Minneapolis, MN Fun Score 84
  10. T#13 88 Washington, DC Fun Score 93
  11. T#13 88 Las Vegas, NV Fun Score 35
  12. T#16 87 Des Moines, IA Fun Score 74
  13. T#16 87 Nashville, TN Fun Score 60
  14. T#18 86 Santa Barbara, CA Fun Score 83
  15. T#18 86 Portland, ME Fun Score 100
  16. #20 85 New Orleans, LA Fun Score 64
  17. T#21 84 Orlando, FL Fun Score 65
  18. T#21 84 Birmingham, AL Fun Score 58
  19. T#23 83 Charleston, SC Fun Score 87
  20. T#23 83 Wilmington, DE Fun Score 50
  21. #25 82 San Diego, CA Fun Score 74
  22. #26 81 Boulder, CO Fun Score 77
  23. T#27 80 Telluride, CO Fun Score 77
  24. T#27 80 Philadelphia, PA Fun Score 45
  25. #29 79 Aspen, CO Fun Score 67
  26. #30 78 Pittsburgh, PA Fun Score 94
  27. T#31 77 Charlotte, NC Fun Score 54
  28. T#31 77 Austin, TX Fun Score 67
  29. #33 76 Napa, CA Fun Score 52
  30. #34 75 Madison, WI Fun Score 97
  31. T#35 74 Phoenix, AZ Fun Score 40
  32. T#35 74 Reno, NV Fun Score 66
  33. #37 73 Baltimore, MD Fun Score 76
  34. #38 72 Kansas City, MO Fun Score 65
  35. T#39 71 Santa Ana, CA Fun Score 32
  36. T#39 71 Dallas, TX Fun Score 38
  37. #41 70 Oakland, CA Fun Score 61
  38. #42 69 Bend, OR Fun Score 80
  39. T#43 68 Los Angeles, CA Fun Score 38
  40. T#43 68 Richmond, VA Fun Score 91
  41. #45 67 Chicago, IL Fun Score 56
  42. #46 66 Columbus, OH Fun Score 60
  43. T#47 65 Tucson, AZ Fun Score 47
  44. T#47 65 Providence, RI Fun Score 78
  45. #49 64 Anaheim, CA Fun Score 41
  46. #50 63 Honolulu, HI Fun Score 86
  47. T#51 62 Spokane, WA Fun Score 63
  48. T#51 62 Colorado Springs, CO Fun Score 51
  49. #53 61 Milwaukee, WI Fun Score 70
  50. #54 60 St. Louis, MO Fun Score 65
  51. T#55 59 New York, NY Fun Score 54
  52. T#55 59 Sacramento, CA Fun Score 54
  53. #57 58 Fort Wayne, IN Fun Score 49
  54. #58 57 Jackson, WY Fun Score 87
  55. T#59 56 Baton Rouge, LA Fun Score 28
  56. T#59 56 Virginia Beach, VA Fun Score 49
  57. #61 55 Tampa, FL Fun Score 70
  58. #62 54 Raleigh, NC Fun Score 64
  59. T#63 50 Chesapeake, VA Placeholder
  60. T#63 50 Fremont, CA Placeholder
  61. T#63 50 Gatlinburg, TN Placeholder
  62. T#63 50 Hialeah, FL Placeholder
  63. T#63 50 Hilton Head Island, SC Placeholder
  64. T#63 50 Houston, TX Fun Score 41
  65. T#63 50 Plano, TX Placeholder
  66. T#63 50 Santa Clarita, CA Placeholder
  67. T#63 50 Sedona, AZ Placeholder
  68. T#63 50 Winston-Salem, NC Placeholder
  69. #73 46 Hartford, CT Fun Score 64
  70. #74 45 Greensboro, NC Fun Score 59
  71. T#75 44 Little Rock, AR Fun Score 47
  72. T#75 44 Jackson, MS Fun Score 25
  73. #77 43 Scottsdale, AZ Fun Score 46
  74. #78 42 Bridgeport, CT Fun Score 41
  75. T#79 41 Norfolk, VA Fun Score 56
  76. T#79 41 Lincoln, NE Fun Score 74
  77. #81 40 Charleston, WV Fun Score 61
  78. #82 39 Irving, TX Fun Score 20
  79. T#83 38 Indianapolis, IN Fun Score 48
  80. T#83 38 Newark, NJ Fun Score 36
  81. #85 37 San Jose, CA Fun Score 62
  82. #86 36 Fort Worth, TX Fun Score 18
  83. T#87 35 Long Beach, CA Fun Score 31
  84. T#87 35 Key West, FL Fun Score 71
  85. #89 34 Durham, NC Fun Score 64
  86. #90 33 Louisville, KY Fun Score 55
  87. T#91 32 Lexington, KY Fun Score 69
  88. T#91 32 Omaha, NE Fun Score 68
  89. #93 31 Stowe, VT Fun Score 44
  90. #94 30 Fresno, CA Fun Score 23
  91. T#95 29 Sioux Falls, SD Fun Score 40
  92. T#95 29 Glendale, AZ Fun Score 10
  93. #97 28 Tulsa, OK Fun Score 51
  94. #98 27 Memphis, TN Fun Score 14
  95. T#99 26 Aurora, CO Fun Score 37
  96. T#99 26 St. Petersburg, FL Fun Score 46
  97. #101 25 San Antonio, TX Fun Score 22
  98. #102 24 Miami, FL Fun Score 55
  99. T#103 23 Saint Paul, MN Fun Score 64
  100. T#103 23 Savannah, GA Fun Score 75
  101. #105 22 Albuquerque, NM Fun Score 41
  102. #106 21 Chandler, AZ Fun Score 41
  103. T#107 20 Jacksonville, FL Fun Score 19
  104. T#107 20 Bakersfield, CA Fun Score 0
  105. #109 19 Riverside, CA Fun Score 21
  106. #110 18 Oklahoma City, OK Fun Score 25
  107. T#111 17 Gilbert, AZ Fun Score 31
  108. T#111 17 Manchester, NH Fun Score 55
  109. #113 16 Henderson, NV Fun Score 13
  110. #114 15 El Paso, TX Fun Score 21
  111. T#115 14 Montgomery, AL Fun Score 41
  112. T#115 14 Mesa, AZ Fun Score 36
  113. #117 13 Lubbock, TX Fun Score 32
  114. #118 12 Jersey City, NJ Fun Score 43
  115. T#119 11 Billings, MT Fun Score 60
  116. T#119 11 Santa Fe, NM Fun Score 63
  117. #121 10 Burlington, VT Fun Score 73
  118. #122 9 Park City, UT Fun Score 74
  119. T#123 8 Toledo, OH Fun Score 45
  120. T#123 8 Wichita, KS Fun Score 15
  121. #125 7 Corpus Christi, TX Fun Score 20
  122. #126 6 Arlington, TX Fun Score 17
  123. T#127 5 Stockton, CA Fun Score 2
  124. T#127 5 Fargo, ND Fun Score 48
  125. #129 4 Laredo, TX Fun Score 10
  126. #130 3 North Las Vegas, NV Fun Score 4
  127. T#131 2 Irvine, CA Fun Score 57
  128. T#131 2 Bismarck, ND Fun Score 26
  129. #133 1 Garland, TX Fun Score 0
  130. #134 0 Anchorage, AK Fun Score 36

9 of 134 cities have no live music measurement, so they sit at the median (50) as a placeholder — flagged above and not a measured rank. The composite Fun Score renormalises around the gap, so it is unaffected.

Live Music is measured from Ticketmaster and SeatGeek show listings, plus OpenStreetMap music venues.