America's 50 most livable cities

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If I told you that #1 was a city in Idaho would you believe me?
America's 50 most livable cities
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24/7 Wall St.

Alexander Kent, Thomas C. Frohlich, Michael B. Sauter, Sam Stebbins and Evan Comen

Moving within the United States from one city to another is much more common today. No matter the reasons for the move — buying a house, looking for a new job, leaving home for the first time — it remains a major undertaking. A host of factors play an important role in the decision where to move, including the quality of schools, the strength of the local economy and job market, safety, culture, and even climate. Americans facing this decision have much to consider.

To determine America’s best cities to live in, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on the 550 U.S. cities with populations of 65,000 or more as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau. Based on a range of variables, including crime rates, employment growth, access to restaurants and attractions, educational attainment, and housing affordability, 24/7 Wall St. identified America’s 50 Best Cities to Live.

According to Elise Gould, senior economist with nonprofit think tank the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), “most people move because of jobs.” Indeed, for many families on the move, the prospect of obtaining a job is often the most important — if not the only — consideration. For this reason, 24/7 Wall St. weighed this factor heavily when identifying the best places to live.

Of the 50 best cities to live, 41 have unemployment rates below the national rate, and all but five have had faster recent job growth than the national job growth rate. Incomes in these cities, when adjusted for cost of living, exceed the national household income of $53,657 in the vast majority of cases.

Here is the slide show: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savi...-50-most-livable-cities/ar-BBmTjCZ?li=AAa0dzB
 
I drove through Idaho once on my way to Seattle. Really nice roads and buildings; no people. Creeped me out. It was like a Twilight Zone episode. Over 20 years ago. Maybe it's changed.

And, of course, they'll be living in 2-3 feet of ash when Yellowstone blows.
 
that's kind of a weird list to me. Small town America making a comeback!
 
These lists are silly. St. George Utah, Goodyear Arizona, and some godforsaken place in Idaho are among the best places to live in the U.S.? Nice places to be sure but acquired tastes for the elderly, reclusive, or those preferring smaller towns.
 
These lists are silly. St. George Utah, Goodyear Arizona, and some godforsaken place in Idaho are among the best places to live in the U.S.? Nice places to be sure but acquired tastes for the elderly, reclusive, or those preferring smaller towns.

Meh, not really. Many of these places are pretty much indistinguishable from their surrounding metropolitan areas. If you didn't have signs telling you that you were crossing into a different city, you'd have no idea because it's all just one big grouping of cities smashed together.

Arvada is a bit northwest of Denver and Centennial is a decent distance south but they're more or less different spots in one giant metropolis of over 2.5M people. 21st largest metro in the US.

Layton is well north of SLC and West Jordan is a bit south, but the entire Wasatch front is one long stretch of cities that have all merged into one long cluster that comprises over a 1M people.

Overland Park is part of the 29th largest metro area in the US. Personally, I would consider it "livable", but that's about it. Yeah, you can live there but given that it's on the outskirts of KC, that's about it. KC, MO now top 10 in crime and the weather is absolutely intolerable year round. Humid in the summers and bitter cold, icy, and windy in the winters. Worst of all, there's absolutely nothing to do in terms of the outdoors unless you like walking. No scenery, the lakes are so warm and muddy brown you may as well be swimming in a sewage pond. The rivers are worse and based on having lived in Topeka for a few years when I was growing up, I'm quite certain they actually dump raw sewage into the river.

Even #1, Meridian, I wouldn't consider a "smaller town". It's more or less West Boise and while the area isn't on par with SLC, DEN, or KC, it's still well beyond the cutoff of a small town. Meridian has been one of the fastest growing cities in the country.
 
Meh, not really. Many of these places are pretty much indistinguishable from their surrounding metropolitan areas. If you didn't have signs telling you that you were crossing into a different city, you'd have no idea because it's all just one big grouping of cities smashed together.

Arvada is a bit northwest of Denver and Centennial is a decent distance south but they're more or less different spots in one giant metropolis of over 2.5M people. 21st largest metro in the US.

Layton is well north of SLC and West Jordan is a bit south, but the entire Wasatch front is one long stretch of cities that have all merged into one long cluster that comprises over a 1M people.

Overland Park is part of the 29th largest metro area in the US. Personally, I would consider it "livable", but that's about it. Yeah, you can live there but given that it's on the outskirts of KC, that's about it. KC, MO now top 10 in crime and the weather is absolutely intolerable year round. Humid in the summers and bitter cold, icy, and windy in the winters. Worst of all, there's absolutely nothing to do in terms of the outdoors unless you like walking. No scenery, the lakes are so warm and muddy brown you may as well be swimming in a sewage pond. The rivers are worse and based on having lived in Topeka for a few years when I was growing up, I'm quite certain they actually dump raw sewage into the river.

Even #1, Meridian, I wouldn't consider a "smaller town". It's more or less West Boise and while the area isn't on par with SLC, DEN, or KC, it's still well beyond the cutoff of a small town. Meridian has been one of the fastest growing cities in the country.

True, true. Goodyear is now linked to the greater Phoenix metro area as well. Same can be said for Kirkland (Seattle/Bellevue). Shouldn't have generalized based on old Goodyear and St. George.

I think my overall point about the lists being silly still stands, though, despite the faulty logic of the rest of the post. :D
 
True, true. Goodyear is now linked to the greater Phoenix metro area as well. Same can be said for Kirkland (Seattle/Bellevue). Shouldn't have generalized based on old Goodyear and St. George.

I think my overall point about the lists being silly still stands, though, despite the faulty logic of the rest of the post. :D

For me, I'd rather not live in a suburb of a large metro. I just can't do traffic. If there's one thing that probably takes years off my life, it's being stuck in traffic.
 
For me, I'd rather not live in a suburb of a large metro. I just can't do traffic. If there's one thing that probably takes years off my life, it's being stuck in traffic.

I have a reverse commute from the city into the burbs and feel for the folks moving in the opposite direction at a crawl.
 

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