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It always depends on the criteria used to make the analysis. I've seen some pretty nutty ones. Of course, people here on CD love to post them when their cities ranks highly. I have never posted a top ten list, but I've posted about some good rankings of my city, Louisville, Colorado. I think they're BS, though.
It always depends on the criteria used to make the analysis. I've seen some pretty nutty ones. Of course, people here on CD love to post them when their cities ranks highly. I have never posted a top ten list, but I've posted about some good rankings of my city, Louisville, Colorado. I think they're BS, though.
well said........just like pulling out kids pics out of wallets, or showing home videos........boring except to the person pulling it out
Such lists are fluff at best, pay them no heed. No way of knowing if there is any good underlying research to back it up or just silly anecdotal snippets telling you that Joe Schmoe has a great life at Boca Bozo Bay.
Get a copy of Cities Ranked and Rated by Sperling's. That's what we used when we were looking. Colorado Springs ended up in the top 20 in almost every category, but cost of housing sealed the deal for us after two visits. This book deals with the top 400 cities in the nation and is invaluable as a source of hard data on weather, climate, crime, education levels, job market, parks & recreation, culture, health care, etc. You need hard stats that you can sit down with and look at for hours. My full story of how we did this is in the Colorado Springs forum under the title https://www.city-data.com/forum/color...o-springs.html
Books about "best retirement places" or "best tax havens" are poor help for most people. Few want to spend all day playing shuffleboard or knitting with the old folks in remote towns where there is little else to do. Most low tax states are "low" in many other things, there is no benefit to saving a few thousand dollars a year if all there is to do is watch TV and fend off meth addicts.
Magazine articles are usually the worst of the lot; some writer has to state the case in a few pages and you end up with superficial crap that tells you very little.
Do the research and dig deep. This board is a great source of help.
I cannot imagiine that ANYONE would respond affirmatively that they would base a decision on where to move to based solely on a single "Top 10" list. Even people who might be strongly swayed by a Top 10 list of, say, "Best Cities for Single according to Men's Health, etc.," would not admit to making their decision solely based on such a poll.
That said, I love reading those lists. They're ridiculous, just like much of today's "reality tv," but they are nonetheless fun to peruse. And I suppose if there is something about my city that I value (say, if I lived in Boulder and loved outdoor recreation) than I would take some pride if a particular list rated my city as No. 1, even though a competing list on the same subject might find a different "winnner."
Such lists are fluff at best, pay them no heed. No way of knowing if there is any good underlying research to back it up or just silly anecdotal snippets telling you that Joe Schmoe has a great life at Boca Bozo Bay.
Get a copy of Cities Ranked and Rated by Sperling's. That's what we used when we were looking. Colorado Springs ended up in the top 20 in almost every category, but cost of housing sealed the deal for us after two visits. This book deals with the top 400 cities in the nation and is invaluable as a source of hard data on weather, climate, crime, education levels, job market, parks & recreation, culture, health care, etc. You need hard stats that you can sit down with and look at for hours. My full story of how we did this is in the Colorado Springs forum under the title https://www.city-data.com/forum/color...o-springs.html
Books about "best retirement places" or "best tax havens" are poor help for most people. Few want to spend all day playing shuffleboard or knitting with the old folks in remote towns where there is little else to do. Most low tax states are "low" in many other things, there is no benefit to saving a few thousand dollars a year if all there is to do is watch TV and fend off meth addicts.
Magazine articles are usually the worst of the lot; some writer has to state the case in a few pages and you end up with superficial crap that tells you very little.
Do the research and dig deep. This board is a great source of help.
True about Sperlings....very comprehensive stats, little subjectivity.
And most southern states have no tax base, with nothing to show for it.
No libraries, parks, etc.....no free lunch
I cannot imagiine that ANYONE would respond affirmatively that they would base a decision on where to move to based solely on a single "Top 10" list. Even people who might be strongly swayed by a Top 10 list of, say, "Best Cities for Single according to Men's Health, etc.," would not admit to making their decision solely based on such a poll.
That said, I love reading those lists. They're ridiculous, just like much of today's "reality tv," but they are nonetheless fun to peruse. And I suppose if there is something about my city that I value (say, if I lived in Boulder and loved outdoor recreation) than I would take some pride if a particular list rated my city as No. 1, even though a competing list on the same subject might find a different "winnner."
True, that they are fun...I like reading them too. Sad thing is, so many people really base major moves on such lists...now thats the scary thing...
"Booming" economies must be qualified. Most of them are like Orlando, with the majority low-paying, non-union, service-orientated jobs. You are FAR more likely to find a higher paying job in those cities you just discounted. Now that RE is expensive in the low-paying boom cities as well, there is really no extra bang to your buck there, unless you are totally marginalized career-wise, and just happy to swing anything that pays the bills. Those boom cities tend to attract marginalized people that were displaced from other dying metros as well, which doesn't exactly build up the job-skill base in the boom cities. Again, when you see boom cities, think low-pay, non-union, service orientated jobs, with very few exceptions. Yes, some boom cities have some higher-end corporate and union jobs, but, for the most part, they hardly do, which is the whole reason companies are relocating to them as a way stop in the process of off-shoring.
No, Omaha's economy is going through a good expansion (happy? not Booming) with several high paying corporate jobs in insurance, banking, etc.
Top Ten lists are mostly just for entertainment purposes.
You can probably do about 80 percent of the same stuff you want to do in a low-rated place such as Detroit metro as you can in "cool" places such as Denver/Boulder or Austin.
Top Ten lists are mostly just for entertainment purposes.
You can probably do about 80 percent of the same stuff you want to do in a low-rated place such as Detroit metro as you can in "cool" places such as Denver/Boulder or Austin.
Again, simply a great sales job.....George Carlin said that a great businessman could sell a left nostril inhaler. Every city has essentially the same assets, chains, and such, and the only trump card would be the size and outlying nature of the geography(mountains, ocean, beaches). Listening to the touts in Austin, you would swear that its the only place to hear a bar band, or a music fest, of which there are reams all over the USA. Every college, mid-sized, and large city has entertainment districts with bar bands. Again, you would swear, listening to the PR folks in Austin, that it is the ONLY place to partake of such, as if they invented or hold a patent on bar band districts, or festivals(which they charge for, BTW). Lanyards for SXSW are 500 bucks, and ACL starts at 150 bucks.....
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) with several high paying corporate jobs in insurance, banking, etc.
