PUEBLO, Colorado
Population: 108,423
Unemployment: 6.0 percent
Cost of Living: 11.6 percent below national average
Once such a force in American steel production that it also was called the “Steel City,” much of Pueblo’s steel industry is gone, though Evraz Steel Mills remains one of the top employers in town. Still, the city continues to grow, attracting both business and workers because it is the sixth-most affordable place to live in the country—measured by the Cost of Living Index—with a cost of living nearly 12 percent below the national average.