Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Some are rated high as anticipated (NY) but others are surprisingly lower than I would have thought.
It looks like they're rated by traveler's experience, not traveler destinations like a Vegas, Miami, or NYC. Travelers don't generally visit Columbus or Austin for the urban experience, culture, history, or outdoor scenery (e.g. mtns & beaches), but usually for reasons relating to OSU or UT. It's when they're there they discover the local culture, friendliness, cool things to do, etc. that they rate those high for a traveler's experience.
I'm surprised for Texas that San Antonio wasn't ranked #1. Dallas also performed better than expected and I'm sure people clueless about the city will come on here and bash it. It does have interesting things to do that at least compares favorably to other TX cities, although it's no New Orleans or NYC. This is coming from a born and bred Northeasterner who grew up visiting NYC, Philly, DC, Boston, etc.
It seems like friendliness really does matter. There are friendly people everywhere, but the south in general tends to tout it's friendliness and it seems like the region ranks very highly on the survey. I think in general friendliness in general can make or break a trip.
Oklahoma City ranked rather high. I have a co-worker who likes to take lots of road trips and he went to Oklahoma City and he has a very favorable impression of the city. I have to say some of the scenes of Oklahoma City make it look very nice from a topography, scenery and lushness standpoint. He also said he thought it was a friendly city in his opinion.
It also seems like Texas in general seems to rank very high. I might be missing out by not exploring Texas especially since I like mild winters and hot summers.
I have to say though that Oklahoma in general, Oklahoma City and Tulsa seem to be very scenic and lush so maybe they are underrated.
I was stunned by how low Portland ranked as I here nothing but rave reviews of the city. I wonder if it is a case of a nice city that doesn't meet extremely high expectations.
As one who has lived in Las Vegas before it is interesting how basically how it ranks #1 across the board. I have never understood it but it seems like I am in rare company as it has the highest satisfaction of any city studied in the nation.
It looks like St. Louis and Inland Empire of California are least satisfied in the survey.
Last edited by lovecrowds; 11-05-2016 at 04:04 PM..
Well as much As I'd say it surprising to see Austin as one of the highest in the country it's not m. There's a reason why it's been one of the fastest growing metros since 1860- it's had one year in that 156 year time frame where it's been under 20% growth and that was 16%.
Nothing Southwestern about Texas, which has it's only shoreline on what is technically the Atlantic Ocean; I don't know where these lists come up with these classifications.
Is it me or is there really not much difference between the cities on that poll? I mean a 30-40 point difference or so from the top city to the bottom city on a 1,000 point scale is not that much difference. All the cities are in the mid/upper 700s to low 800s range.
I mean for example, in the Midwest the difference between the top city of Columbus (799 points) and the bottom city of St Louis (761 points) is only 38 points. 38 point difference on a 1,000 point scale - so what, big deal. Same with most of the other regions.
The only region with more then a 50 point spread is the West and that is because top city Las Vegas is being compared to Riverside, California. And Riverside still comes in with a respectable 762 points out of a 1,000 anyway. So again, I do not see any big difference between the cities here.
Columbus Zoo is trying to make its zoo competitive with San Diego Zoo
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
