A lakeside village in central New York has been named the nicest place in America.
Each year, Reader’s Digest invites readers to nominate towns and cities where people really lean into their neighborliness, coming together to affect positive change — and Liverpool, NY, anchored on the shores of Onondaga Lake, took the gold for goodwill.
The list, now in its tenth year, specifically seeks to “uncover places where stories of kindness, respect, and community shine bright.”
Liverpool, home to 2,242 residents, took first place based on its civic spirit of volunteerism, philanthropy, and generosity.
“Residents of Liverpool are united by a common understanding that small change brings big impact and that helping others – without motive or promise of reward – is the ultimate expression of human connection,” Leigh Belz Ray, Editor-in-Chief of Reader’s Digest, told The Post.
Reader’s Digest highlighted Liverpool locals like Ralph Rotella, a celebrated cobbler who has donated more than 300,000 pairs of refurbished shoes to those in need over the years.
“As long as my hands work and I can walk and dance, we’ll do it,” Rotella told Reader’s Digest.
“I’ve been in Liverpool since 1995, and anyplace I go, in the grocery store or Home Depot, they say, ‘Ralph, I got some shoes for you, can I bring them down?’”
The publication also shines a light on Operation Northern Comfort, a volunteer organization formed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that now mobilizes closer to home, offering repairs, assistance, and all other manner of help.
‘What made Liverpool stand out is that there wasn’t just one central aspect of community support and togetherness – it was happening all over the small village: from neighbor-to-neighbor care to bigger programs across the area, like Operation Northern Comfort and In My Father’s Kitchen,” said Ray.
The latter organization offers non-denominational and non-discriminatory assistance to unhoused people through direct street outreach, providing food and other necessities.
According to Ray, Liverpool’s neighborliness makes residents want to live there, and visitors linger.
“Our creative team was in Liverpool for almost a week, and each and every person told me they wish they could have stayed even longer to report on even more of the truly soul-lifting work being done by the residents there,” she said
Per Reader’s Digest, the legacy of benevolence in Liverpool extends back generations, as the shores of Onondaga Lake were the site of a peace treaty between the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga
and Seneca peoples.
“I do think there’s a spirit of volunteerism in Liverpool,” Liverpool mayor Stacey Finney told Reader’s Digest. “Because people love the area they live in, they want to enhance it. You’ve got to love where you live, and invest your time where you live.”
This year’s panel of judges included Today Show co-host Craig Melvin, bestselling author Mitch Albom, and Molly Irani, author and restaurateur from last year’s winning place, Asheville, NC.
Previous winners include Asheville, NC (2025); Provo, UT (2024) and Buffalo, NY (2023).
The 2026 finalists also included Portland, Oregon; Charleston, Arkansas; and Swanville, Minnesota as places of apex nicety.
In 2024, Fort Greene in Brooklyn was runner-up for nicest place in the 50 states.
