Liverpool, NY, Named Nicest Place in America 2026; Josh Groban on the Cover

• Reader’s Digest named Liverpool, New York, a village of about 2,600 people next to Syracuse, the Nicest Place in America for 2026.
• Josh Groban is on the cover of the October/November issue, the magazine’s first celebrity cover in more than a decade.
• This is the 10th year of the search. Tennessee has won three times, and New York now has two wins.

A village of about 2,600 people outside Syracuse is the nicest place in America this year, according to Reader’s Digest. The magazine named Liverpool, New York, its 2026 winner on Sept. 25, in the 10th year of its Nicest Places in America search.

To mark the anniversary, the October/November issue does something the magazine hasn’t done in more than a decade: it puts a celebrity on the cover. That celebrity is Josh Groban.

Why was Liverpool, NY, named the Nicest Place in America?

Reader’s Digest picked Liverpool for its culture of volunteering and giving. The village covers about a square mile beside Syracuse, with shady residential streets on its west side and Onondaga Lake Park on its east side.

Much of that giving runs through Operation Northern Comfort. It started in 2005 as Operation Southern Comfort, founded by the late Norm “Mr. Liverpool” Andrzejewski, and sent central New Yorkers to Louisiana by the busload to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

The group took its current name in 2012 and turned to its own neighbors. Today it mostly builds ramps and lifts so neighbors with accessibility challenges can leave the house. It completed 57 projects in 2025, paid for almost entirely by a crawfish festival that raised $40,000 this year.

The magazine also singled out Ralph Rotella, an Italian-born cobbler who runs Discount Shoe Repair in downtown Syracuse. He has repaired more than 300,000 pairs of shoes to give away, many through the Syracuse Rescue Mission. Neighbors Simone McCarthy and Raiss Muya are featured too.

Liverpool, NY is the perfect example of a place where neighbors truly show up for one another and where kindness is woven throughout the fabric of everyday life.

— Leigh Belz Ray, editor-in-chief of Reader’s Digest

How does Reader’s Digest choose the Nicest Place in America?

Readers nominate the towns, cities and other places they think deserve it, and nominations for 2027 are already open.

This year a panel of judges reviewed the hundreds of submissions: Craig Melvin of the TODAY show, author Mitch Albom, StoryCorps CEO Sandra Clark, author Mónica Guzmán and restaurateur Molly Irani, from last year’s winner, Asheville.

The four other 2026 finalists were The Book Thing, a Baltimore warehouse that gives away free books; Heretic Coffee in Portland, Oregon, which fed neighbors when SNAP ended; Charleston, Arkansas; and Swanville, Minnesota, which gives a scholarship to every student.

Every winner since the search began in 2017:

Tennessee leads with three wins, and Liverpool gives New York its second, three years after Buffalo. Two winners weren’t towns at all: a falafel restaurant in Knoxville and a hotel in Kodak, Tennessee.

Why is Josh Groban on the cover of Reader’s Digest?

Belz Ray said the magazine wanted a celebrity cover for the 10th anniversary and chose Groban “not just for his incredible talent, but for his profound understanding of human connection.” She interviewed him herself for the issue.

The interview catches him at a busy moment. His new album, Cinematic, is a set of movie songs, from “Skyfall” to “As Time Goes By.” In October he plays a five-show residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

In April he proposed to his longtime girlfriend, actress Natalie McQueen, at Disneyland. “That’s probably the best decision I’ve ever made in my life, asking that question,” he told Reader’s Digest.

He also talked about the Find Your Light Foundation, which grew out of money his fans, the Grobanites, raised for him to start a charity. It has given more than $7.5 million to 450 arts education groups in the U.S.

On the Sept. 23 finale of America’s Got Talent, he sang “Skyfall” with aerialist Veronika Goroshkova, the night Nene Royal won the season. Everything else on him is on our Josh Groban page.

The October/November issue also looks at the move to analog hobbies like needlepoint, mahjong and physical media, and tells the story of a hot air balloon rescue in Texas.

More in Trending: where to get free coffee on National Coffee Day on Tuesday, and why Dolly Parton Day falls on Sept. 25. More stories like this one are in Trending.

— Bruno Monteiro

Sources: Reader’s Digest announcement (PR Newswire, Sept. 25, 2026), with quotes from editor-in-chief Leigh Belz Ray; Reader’s Digest’s Nicest Places in America page and its Liverpool feature (Caroline Fanning, Sept. 25, 2026); Josh Groban’s interview with Leigh Belz Ray in Reader’s Digest (Sept. 23, 2026). America’s Got Talent finale date and results from FameCrumbs’ coverage. Photos: America’s Got Talent (NBC), Reader’s Digest and Josh Groban’s official YouTube channel.