Thanks to its smart tech infrastructure (scoring 88 out of 100) and healthy tech job market (82 out of 100), the Georgia city of Atlanta now ranks as America’s smartest city — ahead of tech powerhouses Boston and San Francisco.

Atlanta has the fourth-highest internet download and upload speeds of any major U.S. city. Relative to its population size, Atlanta also boasts the third-highest number of companies dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT) and the fifth-highest number of artificial intelligence (AI) companies.

Atlanta is also a prime spot for anyone seeking employment in the tech sector, with 643 tech jobs advertised per 10,000 people — the seventh-highest rate of tech job ads in America.

It may be surprising to see the tech hub of San Jose in 10th place, however, its overall smart city credentials remain strong. The Californian city has one of the highest densities and total counts of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the United States, along with having the sixth-highest number of companies dedicated to IoT.

While Atlanta steals the top spot for its superior performance in the technology infrastructure and connectivity category, Boston is also performing well in this area for 2025.

The Massachusetts city has the third-highest rate of AI companies in the U.S. (384 per 100,000 people) and the fifth-highest overall number of AI companies.

At the end of 2024, Governor Maura Healey announced the launch of the Massachusetts AI Hub, which is described as a groundbreaking plan to make Massachusetts a national leader in artificial intelligence innovation.

Elsewhere in the top 10 best cities for tech infrastructure and connectivity is Seattle. What was once a blue-collar city is now a widely recognised tech hub, with companies like Amazon and Microsoft containing campuses there. Seattle is in the top 6 U.S. cities for having the most IoT companies and AI companies per 100,000 local residents.

The Californian city of San Francisco ranks as the best in the U.S. on combined environmental metrics — it is the eighth highest ranking for both its number of EV charging stations and highest density of charging stations.

San Francisco also has the eighth-highest number of LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green buildings (1,510), the world’s most widely used green building rating system by USGBC.

Washington, D.C., closely follows San Francisco in second place, with a green score of 73 out of 100. Washington contains more LEED-certified buildings (3,065) than any other U.S. city in our analysis and more than double that of San Francisco.

Washington also scores well on protecting its trees compared to other cities, with the equivalent of 62 hectares lost between 2001 to 2023 (Global Forest Watch). This is the fifth lowest amount of any other major U.S. city.

Oakland outperforms all of its neighbouring Californian cities this year for offering the greatest choice of tech jobs relative to its population size — scoring 98 out of 100 overall in the tech jobs category.

Oakland is the largest and most established of the East Bay cities. However, within our analysis, it contains one of the smallest resident populations while its rate of tech jobs is an impressive 889 per 10,000 people. That’s enough jobs to cover the equivalent of 10% of its population.

It’s important to note that job availability doesn’t guarantee open positions are being filled within a healthy economy. In January 2025, the San Francisco Chronicle also reported that San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose metropolitan areas all saw significant declines in economic performance compared to the previous year.