Ibeya Net "Livability" & "Most Desired Town" Rankings 2026 <Yamagata Prefecture Edition>

Daito Trust Construction Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Kei Takeuchi) conducted its largest-ever resident satisfaction survey and compiled the "Ibeya Net Livability Ranking 2026 <Yamagata Prefecture Edition>" and "Ibeya Net Most Desired Town Ranking 2026 <Yamagata Prefecture Edition>".

"Ibeya Net Livability Ranking 2026 <Yamagata Prefecture Edition>" Key Points

For livability, Higashine City ranked 1st, and Tendo City ranked 2nd. Yamagata City came in 3rd for the 7th consecutive year.

○ Higashine City moves up to 1st place from 2nd last year

It is one of Yamagata Prefecture's leading fruit-producing areas, known for cherries and apples. It boasts high transportation convenience with Yamagata Airport, the Shinkansen station Sakurambo Higashine Station, and the Tohoku Chuo Expressway IC, and is also equipped with commercial facilities and medical institutions. It moved up from 2nd place last year to rank 1st.

○ 5th place is Shirataka Town, Nishiokitama District

The Mogami River flows through the area, dividing east and west. The eastern part is surrounded by the Shirotaka Hills, and the western part by the Asahi Mountain Range, making it an area blessed with abundant nature. In terms of factors, it received high ratings, ranking 1st in "Quietness and Safety" and "Friendliness".

*The "Livability Ranking" aggregates responses from 5 years, from 2022 to 2026. However, if the cumulative number of respondents for the municipalities in each survey does not reach the specified 50 people from 2022 to 2026, responses from 2021 will also be included. If the number still does not meet the requirement even after adding 2021, responses from 2020 will be included, and if still insufficient, responses from 2019 will be accumulated. There is no overlap in respondents.

"Ibeya Net Most Desired Town Ranking 2026 <Yamagata Prefecture Edition>" Key Points

For the most desired town, Sendai City ranked 1st for the 6th consecutive year. For the 3rd consecutive year, Tokyo's 23 wards ranked 2nd, and Yamagata City ranked 3rd.

○ Sendai City ranks 1st for the 6th consecutive year

Sendai City has been ranked 1st for six consecutive years. Tokyo's 23 wards ranked 2nd and Yamagata City ranked 3rd for the third consecutive year. Tendo City ranked 4th for the fifth consecutive year, and Yokohama City ranked 5th for the second consecutive year.

○ 73.6% are positive about their current town

Of the respondents, 55.9% said "I don't particularly have a town I want to live in," and 17.7% said "I want to continue living in the town I currently live in," totaling 73.6%. This indicates a positive evaluation of their current towns, continuing from last year.

*The "Most Desired Town Ranking" compiles rankings based on responses from Yamagata Prefecture residents in 2026, targeting municipalities nationwide.

*Administrative wards are aggregated as a single municipality.

Livability Ranking 2026 <Yamagata Prefecture Edition> Top 10 Municipalities & Factor Rankings

"Municipalities" Outside Top 10 & Factor Ranking Topics

● Kawanishi Town, Higashiokitama District ranked 3rd in "Quietness and Safety".

*Scores are the average values when "Extremely Satisfied" is 100 points, "Satisfied" is 75 points, "Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied" is 50 points, "Dissatisfied" is 25 points, and "Extremely Dissatisfied" is 0 points, regarding the evaluation of the town where respondents currently live.

*Standard deviation (偏差値) is a normalized score where the average score is 50, indicating how far the score deviates from the average. If standard deviations are the same, rankings are determined by the second decimal place and beyond.

*For factor rankings, if the standard deviation is less than 50, it is displayed as "-".

*Municipalities whose previous year's ranking was "-" are not publicly disclosed as their standard deviation was below 50 in the previous year's ranking.

Survey Overview

◇ Survey Method

Survey questionnaires were distributed and collected via the internet from registered monitors of Macromill, Inc.

◇ Respondents

The survey aggregated responses from a total of 6,498 individuals aged 20 and over residing in Yamagata Prefecture (some responses from 2021-2019 were additionally included).

[Gender Ratio] Male 49.1% : Female 50.9%

[Marital Status] Unmarried 39.3% : Married 60.7% [Children] None 41.4% : Yes 58.6%

[Age Group Ratio] 20s 14.0%, 30s 22.2%, 40s 23.8%, 50s 20.9%, 60s 14.6%, 70s 4.5%

◇ Survey Period

February 10 (Tue) - March 22 (Sun), 2026: 2026 Survey (Number of respondents: 1,516)

February 21 (Fri) - March 10 (Mon), 2025: 2025 Survey (Number of respondents: 1,302)

February 21 (Wed) - March 14 (Thu), 2024: 2024 Survey (Number of respondents: 1,158)

February 17 (Fri) - March 15 (Wed), 2023: 2023 Survey (Number of respondents: 1,288)

March 8 (Tue) - March 29 (Tue), 2022: 2022 Survey (Number of respondents: 1,082)

March 17 (Wed) - March 30 (Tue), 2021: 2021 Survey (Number of respondents: 34 *Only a portion of responses used)

March 17 (Tue) - April 3 (Fri), 2020: 2020 Survey (Number of respondents: 71 *Only a portion of responses used)

March 26 (Tue) - April 8 (Mon), 2019: 2019 Survey (Number of respondents: 47 *Only a portion of responses used)

Total 6,498 people

◇ Survey System

Survey Planning, Questionnaire Design, Analysis: Daito Trust Construction Co., Ltd. Rental Future Research Institute, Ken So (Fellow); Questionnaire Distribution and Collection: Macromill, Inc.

◇ Response Method

The Livability Ranking was created based on the average score of "Overall evaluation of the current area (Extremely Satisfied: 100 points, Satisfied: 75 points, Neither: 50 points, Dissatisfied: 25 points, Extremely Dissatisfied: 0 points)" for the town where respondents currently live. The Most Desired Town Ranking was created by aggregating voting numbers from responses using a free-word suggestion method where multiple candidate municipalities are displayed based on the entered municipality name and selected.

*Reproduction, public transmission, distribution, alteration, or reprinting of this release, in whole or in part, on other websites, or any other act that infringes copyright law is prohibited, except for printing/saving for personal use or as otherwise permitted by copyright law.

*Media representatives such as newspapers, magazines, television, and radio are requested to indicate "Ibeya Net Livability & Most Desired Town Rankings 2026 <Yamagata Prefecture Edition>" and the source when publishing, reporting, or quoting this release.

*For academic research purposes, individual-level data from this survey may be available upon request. Please contact us for details.

*The "Livability Ranking" website features academic papers and explanatory articles on survey data related to livability and town development. For details, please visit the website.

▼Details here https://www.eheya.net/sumicoco/ ▼Press release here

https://www.kentaku.co.jp/news/survey/2026/sumicoco_tohoku2026.html