Best Music Cities in America, 2024 Survey Results

The place dubbed Music City and home to numerous record labels, iconic music venues and cool hotels, Nashville topped the survey as the best city for music in America for the second year in a row.

New York City, with its hidden musical histories and some primo hotels for music fans, climbed a spot this year to land at #2, according to respondents to this year’s survey.

The self-proclaimed Live Music Capital of the World jumped a spot from last year, from #4 to #3, and was the only city from Texas in the top 10. If Austin and its mega fests like SXSW and Austin City Limits are not for you, check out our more chill look at parts outside the city.

New Orleans, the stellar city that topped our annual Food Survey for the past two years and came in second in last year’s Music Survey, slipped two spots this year to land at #4. If there are results here that are shocking, this is it. It’s really no matter though, since New Orleans is one of the country’s true gems. A confluence of French, Spanish, African and American influences make it unique and one of our always-favorites.

As we noted last year, L.A. is a hotbed of music talent, but also home to the “greatest music store in the world,” iconic music hotels, hotels with superb soundtracks, and some of the most iconic live music venues in the country. This year it held strong in this year’s results at #5.

Las Vegas, which also held strong in the same position as last year, just like L.A., no doubt kept its live music cred at the highest levels due to the opening of Sphere: “The 18,600-seat arena opened in September and is an immersive, 4D look at what all live shows could be in the future.”

Of course the local music scene responsible for Smashing Pumpkins, Jeff Tweedy, Fall Out Boy, Veruca Salt, and many others, has an absurd lineup of festivals for you. Consider the ones coming just in the next few months: Suenos, Lollapalooza and Pitchfork will be some of the biggest music moments of the year and as good of an excuse as any to book a trip to Chicago. In this year’s survey, the Windy City came in at #7, just as it did in 2023.

Music might not be the first thing you think of when you think “Denver,” but respondents to this year’s survey moved Denver up one place to #8, nonetheless. If you’ve never been to Denver it should be on got-to-visit list and we’d recommend taking in a show at Red Rocks. Just 30 minutes outside of the city, Red Rocks Amphitheatre may be America’s most unique and naturally beautiful outdoor music venue. The open-air amphitheater is built into a behemoth rock formation and surrounded by sheets of brilliant red sandstone.

Boston’s collective support to live music is broad between the number and variety of its venues — think Beehive, the Middle East and Brighton Music Hall to The Orpheum, Wang Theater and Hatch Shell and beyond — which likely helped the city jump two places to #9 in this year’s survey. (But, we keep secretly pulling for the area’s festival scene to see more growth. Until then, we’ll keep attending Boston Calling.)

In this year’s survey results, Washington D.C. cracked the top 10 by moving up two spots to #10. D.C. has so much going on — not just politics, think Ethiopian food — that its live music community doesn’t get the spotlight as often as it should. The lifeblood of a city’s scene — the local venues — have grown in the past decade, as the city’s longtime live music stalwarts like 9:30 Club and Black Cat have been joined by newer spaces like The Anthem and The Atlantis, and others, underscoring the scenes dynamism.