Ibeya Net Town Livability & Desirability Rankings 2026 <Aomori Prefecture Edition>

Daito Kentaku Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Kei Takeuchi) conducted its largest-ever resident satisfaction survey and compiled the "Ibeya Net Town Livability Rankings 2026 <Aomori Prefecture Edition>" and "Ibeya Net Desirability Rankings 2026 <Aomori Prefecture Edition>".

"Ibeya Net Town Livability Rankings 2026 <Aomori Prefecture Edition>" Key Points

Hirsoaki City ranks first for the fourth consecutive year. 2nd place: Fujisaki Town, Minamitsugaru District. 3rd place: Oirase Town, Kamikita District.

○ Hirosaki City Ranks First for the Fourth Consecutive Year

Hirosaki City, located in the western part of the prefecture and the third most populous in the prefecture, has been ranked first for four consecutive years. The city center has many commercial facilities and medical institutions, and it received a top rating in both the "Public Services" and "Vibrancy" factors.

○ 2nd Place is Fujisaki Town, Minamitsugaru District, which was 5th last year

This town is located in the central part of the Tsugaru Plain and is known as the birthplace of the apple variety "Fuji." JR Ou Main Line and Gono Line are accessible, providing good access to Hirosaki City and Aomori City. In terms of factors, it ranked first in four factors: "Transportation Convenience," "Friendliness," "Cost of Living and Rent," and "Disaster Prevention."

*The "Livability Rankings" are compiled by accumulating responses from five years: 2022-2026. However, if the number of respondents for each municipality in the cumulative period of 2022-2026 does not reach the specified 50 people, responses from 2021 are also accumulated. If the number still does not meet the requirement even after adding 2021, responses from 2020 will be accumulated, and if still insufficient, responses from 2019 will be accumulated. There is no overlap in respondents.

"Ibeya Net Desirability Rankings 2026 <Aomori Prefecture Edition>" Key Points

Sendai City ranks first for the sixth consecutive year. 2nd place: 23 Wards of Tokyo for the fifth consecutive year. 3rd place: Hirosaki City.

○ Sendai City Ranks First for the Sixth Consecutive Year

Sendai City has been ranked first for six consecutive years. 2nd place is the 23 Wards of Tokyo for the fifth consecutive year, and 3rd place is Hirosaki City, which moved up from 4th place last year. Three municipalities from 3rd to 5th place are municipalities in Aomori Prefecture, continuing from last year.

○ 72.4% Approve of Their Current Town

"No particular town I want to live in" (54.6%) and "I want to continue living in my current town" (17.8%) total 72.4%, indicating a continued positive evaluation of their current towns from last year.

*The "Desirability Rankings" are compiled by ranking responses from Aomori Prefecture residents in 2026 targeting municipalities nationwide.

*Administrative districts are aggregated as a single municipality.

Town Livability Rankings 2026 <Aomori Prefecture Edition> Top 10 Municipalities & Factor Rankings

"Municipalities" Outside the TOP 10 & Factor Ranking Topics

● 3rd place for "Quietness and Safety" was Gonohe Town, Sannohe District.

*Scores are the average values when "Very Satisfied" is 100 points, "Satisfied" is 75 points, "Neither" is 50 points, "Dissatisfied" is 25 points, and "Very Dissatisfied" is 0 points, regarding the evaluation of the current town of residence.

*Standard deviation (偏差値) is a normalization where the average score is 50, indicating how far the score deviates from the average. If standard deviations are the same but rankings differ, the difference is in the second decimal place or beyond.

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

Survey Overview

◇ Survey Method

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

◇ Respondents

Compiled from a total of 7,968 individuals aged 20 and over residing in Aomori Prefecture, from 2022 to 2026 (with some responses from 2021-2019 added).

[Gender Ratio] Male 47.3% : Female 52.7%

[Marital Status] Unmarried 42.8% : Married 57.2% [Children] None 43.3% : Yes 56.7%

[Age Group Ratio] 20s 13.2%, 30s 20.9%, 40s 26.0%, 50s 23.8%, 60s 12.2%, 70s 3.9%

◇ Survey Period

February 10 (Tue) - March 22 (Sun), 2026: 2026 Survey (Respondents: 1,805)

February 21 (Fri) - March 10 (Mon), 2025: 2025 Survey (Respondents: 1,605)

February 21 (Wed) - March 14 (Thu), 2024: 2024 Survey (Respondents: 1,496)

February 17 (Fri) - March 15 (Wed), 2023: 2023 Survey (Respondents: 1,571)

March 8 (Tue) - March 29 (Tue), 2022: 2022 Survey (Respondents: 1,334)

March 17 (Wed) - March 30 (Tue), 2021: 2021 Survey (Respondents: 38 *Only a portion of responses used)

March 17 (Tue) - April 3 (Fri), 2020: 2020 Survey (Respondents: 68 *Only a portion of responses used)

March 26 (Tue) - April 8 (Mon), 2019: 2019 Survey (Respondents: 51 *Only a portion of responses used)

Total 7,968

◇ Survey Structure

Survey Planning, Questionnaire Design, Analysis: Daito Kentaku Living Future Research Institute, Ken So (Fellow); Questionnaire Distribution and Collection: Macromill, Inc.

◇ Response Method

Livability Rankings are created from the average score of "Overall evaluation of the current area (Very Satisfied: 100, Satisfied: 75, Neither: 50, Dissatisfied: 25, Very Dissatisfied: 0)" for the currently inhabited town. Desirability Rankings are created by aggregating votes from 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, etc., is prohibited without prior permission from the copyright holder, except for printing/saving for personal use or other acts permitted by copyright law.

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

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

*The "Livability Rankings" 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