Yearly list of lolz -- CNN/Money's "Best Places to Live 2006"

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If you read Money magazine, your life would appear to be rather sterile.

1 Fort Collins, CO
2 Naperville, IL
3 Sugar Land, TX
4 Columbia/Ellicott City, MD
5 Cary, NC
6 Overland Park, KS
7 Scottsdale, AZ
8 Boise, ID
9 Fairfield, CT
10 Eden Prairie, MN

AAAAAAnd the "10 Best Big Cities"

1 Colorado Springs, CO 369,800
2 Austin, TX 690,300
3 Mesa, AZ 442,800
4 Raleigh, NC 341,500
5 San Diego, CA 1,255,500
6 Virginia Beach, VA 438,400
7 Omaha, NE 414,500
8 Columbus, OH 730,700
9 Wichita, KS 354,900
10 New York, NY 8,143,200

(for real fun, check the voting patterns of those cities)

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

"real fun"

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:36 (nineteen years ago)

EDEN FUCKING PRAIRIE?

― p@reene (Pareene), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

oh god eden prairie is so fucking BORING

― gbx (skowly), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

But it WAS where MST3K was filmed, so I will always have a soft spot for it in my heart. (It clearly is the only good thing about the place, though.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

COLUMBUS?

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:40 (nineteen years ago)

i couldn't find the thread I started last year about this

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:40 (nineteen years ago)

from political campaign work days:

miserable hot summer day in hideous townhouse development in eden prairie. ended up chatting with sad middle-aged man for 30 minutes (had given up on reaching quota anyway). sad middle-aged man was watching the Dick Cavett show w/ young John Kerry, sat me down and talked with me about life, reminisced of childhood in Minneapolis proper, general sad middle-aged man stuff. Finally said, in tragic, wistful, Garrison Keillor voice: "It's not Eden. And there's no prairie."

then he accused me of surreptitiously giving him the finger when i wiped my brow.

― p@reene (Pareene), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:42 (nineteen years ago)

how they picked 'em:

Eliminate cities with low education scores, high crime rates, absurdly high housing costs, declines in employment or income less than 90% of the state median. Remove bedroom communities and places where people identify themselves as being from a smaller locale within the area.

Once we narrowed down our list to 201 small cities, we ranked the remaining places based on what matters most: A Money/ICR poll of 1,005 Americans found that ample job opportunities, good schools, and low crime are the most important characteristics people look for in a place to live. Meanwhile, the most disliked attributes are congestion, high crime, and lack of job opportunities. Using this information, we ranked places using 38 quality-of-life indicators and 6 economic opportunity measures in the following categories: Ease of Living, Health, Education, Crime, Park space, Arts and Leisure.

Rank remaining places on economic opportunity, taking into account income, job growth and affordability; quality-of-life indicators, including risk of violent crime and property crime, quality of public schools, arts and leisure, park space and incidence of stress-related ailments; and "ease of living" gauges such as commute times, divorce rates, population density and weather. Limit counties to one city each, unless the No. 2 city has more than 75,000 in population and a distinct identity.

remember everybody, poor folks = Teh Suck, and knock your suburb out of the running

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

ha, i also have stories about horrible days of campaign work in columbus. best thing about it: it's not dayton.

― p@reene (Pareene), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:45 (nineteen years ago)

guess that whole shining city on the hill thing is working for colorado springs. shudder.

― maura (maura), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

WHERE THE WHITE PEOPLE AT?

― p@reene (Pareene), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:52 (nineteen years ago)

haha i'm from columbia and it is not even remotely interchangeable with ellicott city. it does sort of suck, though, except for when it doesn't. we gave the world VOID (aka best non-minor threat band on dischord), though, so that partially makes up for it.

― FAN DEATH (teenagequiet), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:52 (nineteen years ago)

check out the Skinniest list

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:54 (nineteen years ago)

what's boise like?? Idaho intrigues me for some reason...

― timmy tannin (pompous), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:56 (nineteen years ago)

COLUMBUS?

Apparently Columbus is now the best city for black families and black professionals.

― Jesus Dan (Dan Perry), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

Remove bedroom communities . . .

WTF is Cary, NC doing on the list, then? Also LOLing at Raleigh which is, as far as I'm concerned, one giant miserable 24-hour traffic jam.

― Party Time Country Female (pullapartgirl), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:01 (nineteen years ago)

overland park, that is the place featured in that book, whats the matter with kansas, right?

― -- (688), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

i am mystified by NC in its entirety

― -- (688), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

Is there a "Best Places To Die" list - or are they one in the same?

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

i am not sure if this makes me more afraid or more happy about moving to columbus.

lol @ fairfield, ct, though. the LAST place i'd want to live.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:12 (nineteen years ago)

Even by their own criteria I'm not sure what the hell Mesa is doing on that list?

― Allyzay will never stop making pancakes (allyzay), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:15 (nineteen years ago)

your guess is as good as mine

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

ft collins is just like a suburb, except w/o the nearby city.

seems like nyc is missing most of their criteria. how'd it make the cut?

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

I gotta move on up to Wichita

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:23 (nineteen years ago)

fort collins is booo-ring. colorado springs is weird.
good places to live are DULL!

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

I'm so fucking shocked to see Eden Prairie! Yikes, I worked there, it's like the most typical boring suburb ever?!?

― M@tt He1geson, Rendolent Ding-Dong (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

I think the key here is that they picked these cities randomly out of hats.

― Allyzay will never stop making pancakes (allyzay), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:36 (nineteen years ago)

If we would make such a list, what would we put there? what quantifiable bits would you put on there?

-Number of record shops?
-number of 2nd-run movie theaters that serve beer?
-quality of financing local public schools?
-number of radio stations within reception range that play local music?
-number of music venues within a 2-hour bicycle trip?
-range of mass-transit/public rail?

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:41 (nineteen years ago)

xxpost
austin is not dull.

― Ms. Misery TX (MissMiseryTX), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

If we would make such a list, what would we go for? what quantifiable bits would you put on there?

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

in fact the only things nyc scored well in were leisure and culture

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/snapshots/PL3651000.html

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

double post

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

I can also affirm that Eden Prairie is teh suck. It also contains the mall where Mallrats was filmed. It's dire, full of over-mortgaged creeps with no furniture or groceries in their McMansions and one expensive car. A lot of Minnesota Vikings who don't know any better go there too.

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:46 (nineteen years ago)

YEAH COME TO NC IT'S FUCKING FANTASTIC.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

i liked nc when i was up there!

― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

in fact the only things nyc scored well in were leisure and culture
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/snapshots/PL3651000.html

this is odd. it says there are only 74 bars withing 15 miles of NYC.

― phil-two (phil-two), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

there must be at least 20

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:11 (nineteen years ago)

um never mind

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:11 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry I am hot.

But seriously, there are aspects of NC I like, but I think it's only because I grew up here. I imagine anyone not native would find this unbearable. Unless you are comatose, which I think maybe CNN/Money readers are.

xpost You're southern though, right? You'd be used to our distinct regional character. ;)

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:11 (nineteen years ago)

mandee hearts grand junction

― sunny successor (katharine), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

YEAH COME TO NC IT'S FUCKING FANTASTIC.

Jesus loves you, Jessie.

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

this is odd. it says there are only 74 bars withing 15 miles of NYC.

They also claim a ridiculously high number of bars and restaurants within Mesa (though not as many as there should be if they are inexplicably including Phoenix in their count). There's something odd in general with their metrics. I kind of wish there was a link explaining their definition of the various things they're ranking because I can't make sense of them. I mean, they are terms that make perfect sense but their applications in this study are completely bizarre.

― Allyzay will never stop making pancakes (allyzay), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

Eliminate cities with low education scores, high crime rates

i figured as much, which is partially why i was so surprised by the inclusion of columbus. it's one of the top ten most dangerous cities within its population cluster according to that other study that was discussed on here a few weeks ago.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

Jesus loves you, Jessie.

-- pleased to mitya (mitya_il...), July 17th, 2006 2:13 PM. (mitya) (later) (link)

Gah, Mitya, I was expecting you to come be my compatriot in complaining about how unbearably hot it is. ;)

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

That's "74 bars per .15 square miles" in NYC.

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

Houston is the third skinniest city in America? HAHAHAHAHAHA

― phil-two (phil-two), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

A/C, baby, A/C!

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

I should construct a giant air-conditioned bubble to live in.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

Hello I'd vote several times over for any mayoral candidate who supported enclosing Manhattan in a giant, climate-controlled bubble. I've been shrilling about it for YEARS.

― Laurel (Laurel), Monday, 17 July 2006 17:34 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 10 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I like the airport in Fort Collins. I remember driving there from Boulder and found the direction signs (airplanes pointing in the direction you should travel) to be very helpful.

I like Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill in NC. I was there last August. . .

It was probably refreshing because you were sitting in traffic in an air conditioned car for the entire visit.

(I keed, NCers, I keed. I have been into actual buildings in all three of those cities. And one of my top three favorite bars in the world is in Carrboro.)

― Party Time Country Female (pullapartgirl), Monday, 17 July 2006 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

The bus system in Charlotte is a big giant joke, on the other hand (and the bus stop is a great place to get raped!). I haven't spent a whole lot of time in the triangle, but from what I've heard/seen it's really a better place overall. Also Chapel Hill/Carrboro and Durham benefit from being college towns, so in terms of entertainment it's got a bit on us. BUT WE ARE FIVE MINUTES FROM ALL THE FIREWORKS WE COULD EVER DREAM OF.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 17 July 2006 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

o man speaking of nc bars what's the deal with liquor and the memberships and whatever?

xpost - yeah i was only in the triangle, was kinda shocked at how big raleigh is, at how far north (and hence cold) the triangle is. definitely some cute ladies up there.

― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 17 July 2006 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

What I liked about Raleigh is that it's clearly the death metal kid city of choice amongst the three. (It may or may not be a coincidence that all the harder bands from NC came from Raleigh, where the not-as-hard rock bands came from the other side of the triangle.)

You need a membership in order to be allowed into bars in NC. It's not as much the cost (which is really small) as much as the two week waiting period. When I visited to see a show at a bar on Franklin. St., I was told to make sure I applied for the membership early. Paying for it later was no problem.

I think it's a similar deal in Utah. Maybe.

― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

eh, i went to the flying saucer in raleigh, and i didn't need no membership!

― -- (688), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

though i kind of remember reading about it somewhere, and then forgot. i guess maybe they forgot too

― -- (688), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

i lived in eden prarie for the longest four weeks of my life. oh jesus, that place was bad. even the mallrats mall was one of those crappy malls that has sears as the higher end anchor store. CNN/money are on crack, clearly.

plus, isn't it completely a suburb/bedroom community of the twin cities (or at least a suburb of the Mall of America?)

― colette (a2lette), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah I don't know all the details about it. I know the Steeple in Charlotte did that, but I don't think any of the meat markets like Bar Charlotte and whatnot do.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

WTF is Cary, NC doing on the list, then? Also LOLing at Raleigh which is, as far as I'm concerned, one giant miserable 24-hour traffic jam.

-- Party Time Country Female (rabbitrabbi...) (webmail), July 17th, 2006. (pullapartgirl)

OTM. Trust me. As somebody who spent his teen years having to drive the family cars to Cary where the "only trustworthy mechanic" is, the city does not belong on the list.

― like murderinging (modestmickey), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

My understanding is that the only liquor license available in NC for a bar that sells only alcohol and no food is a private club liquor license. My experience is that not all bars with a private club license require people to register/pay to become members, but if you've had a few beers in you and you ask about the private club thing, the bartender will roll his eyes at take out a little box of index cards and make everybody, including the mid-afternoon bar flies, fill one out and everybody will get angry at you and think you are an ABC mole, no matter how drunk you are.

I never experienced a waiting period, though! What a huge pain in the ass that is! Is that a city-specific ordinance?

Jessie, are you in Charlotte? We lived in Greensboro (my husband is from the wilds of eastern NC).

― Party Time Country Female (pullapartgirl), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

Yes I am a Charlotte native. I have been to Greensboro an embarrassingly small number of times but a great number of people I know go to college there for some reason.

Oh, man, eastern NC....I think it's gorgeous out there, but talk about the middle of nowhere. :D

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

From what I understand regarding memberships is that it's state law that any bar who serves liquor must maintain a membership list. If something like 30% of the revenue, however, comes from food sales, then it is no longer a "bar" but a "restaurant" and the membership list law doesn't apply. Or so a bartender in Chapel Hill told me. Almost none of the bars there serve any food, while pretty much every bar here in Charlotte does, so I haven't had to pay a membership fee yet.

xpost
er, yeah.

― like murderinging (modestmickey), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

I have been to Greensboro an embarrassingly small number of times

I've only been to Charlotte four or five times, maybe? There's not much going on in Greensboro unless you're visiting friends, so you shouldn't feel bad.

― Party Time Country Female (pullapartgirl), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:31 (nineteen years ago)

so, what can we conclude from this list?

the apparent target audience of this list:

-upper-middle class(more or less)
-anglo
-has kids or are gunna breed like real soon
-don't mind the commute
-digs those malls
-?

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:37 (nineteen years ago)

- reads Money magazine

The rest of your list is redundant.

― milo z (mlp), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

well, yeah, that's the obvious bit, but still...

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:40 (nineteen years ago)

The Sugar Land blurb is priceless. They're one of the most diverse cities in Texas/America! Almost 25% Asian... the rest, it seems, all crackers. Which would, actually, make it one of the less diverse than most cities in Texas.

― milo z (mlp), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

Well, okay....Omaha is on this list. That shows how much they did their homework. Omaha, town of few parks, much boredom, square mileage out of proportion to its population, grain elevators in the middle of town....oh, but it has a MASSIVE telemarketing and shilling industry, where any hard-luck person, especially if they're in prison, can find a low-pay job harassing people during dinner time.

So that's what CNN must mean by "quality of life". Lincoln is the nicer city in Nebraska. So that's how serious we should take this.

― section 241 (section241), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:44 (nineteen years ago)

African-American population of Sugar Land: 5.2%
of Houston: 25.31%

Latino population of Sugar Land: 7.98%
of Houston: 37.41

But Sugar Land does have an 18-point lead in Asians, 'the good minority.'

― milo z (mlp), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.ibff.org/img/films/budda_bobby.jpg

― Tab Hunter loves to take his shirt off (kenan), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:48 (nineteen years ago)

where any hard-luck person, especially if they're in prison, can find a low-pay job harassing people during dinner time.

oh man, too easy to make a Saddle Creek joke

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:48 (nineteen years ago)

Saddle Creek has a telemarketing division?

― latebloomer repels you (latebloomer), Monday, 17 July 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

"Sir,the reason I'm calling you today is to inform you of the great deals you can get with Saddle Creek's Lifetime Advantage Package. All the Cursive records you want in--hello, sir?"

― latebloomer rappelles, you? (latebloomer), Monday, 17 July 2006 20:07 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry, my bad re: waiting period for NC bar membership. I think it's three days.. not two weeks.

"Two Weeks" probably entered my head from some other reference. I can't imagine what that could be.

― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Monday, 17 July 2006 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry...I hope I'm not being too hard on Omaha, but even Omahan's don't feel that excited about their home, as far as I can tell. Omaha and Wichita....apparently these folks don't like certain parts of the midwest, like Milwaukee, Minneapolis / St. Paul, Chicago...all nice cities and far less boring.

― section 241 (section241), Monday, 17 July 2006 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

I know two Omahans and they are not excited about their home. In fact, they both live in Chicago now!

― Party Time Country Female (pullapartgirl), Monday, 17 July 2006 20:32 (nineteen years ago)

anyway, i thought portland, oregon was always supposed to do well in these lists?

― -- (688), Monday, 17 July 2006 20:33 (nineteen years ago)

sleater-kinney broke up!

― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 17 July 2006 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

Since when do 350,000 people make a BIG city? Esp. with the Sun Belt cities booming and all. That's more like a "mid-sized" city.

― section 241 oj (section241), Monday, 17 July 2006 20:48 (nineteen years ago)

portland wouldn't place for shit on here, due to housing costs, poor folks, etc

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 20:49 (nineteen years ago)

here's the 2005 list

and Portland never makes the list, but Hillsboro(where all the californian suburban sprawl fans emigrated to) and Beaverton(between Portland and Hillsboro) do

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

I forget if it was Portland, Seattle, or both.. but Business magazine rated at least one of the two cities as one of the Worst Cities To Do Business In, and the main reason was because there was a presence of workers' rights organizations.

― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Monday, 17 July 2006 21:01 (nineteen years ago)

god bless SEIU

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

beaverton sounds like a great place to do some business in

― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 17 July 2006 21:03 (nineteen years ago)

sleater-kinney's last show ever sold out in like 30 seconds, so they added a 2nd one. no idea how that one's doing.

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

the 2005 list looks a lot better

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 17 July 2006 21:08 (nineteen years ago)

we mocked it about as much, at the time

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 17 July 2006 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

what's your beef with nc, 845542212?

― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 18 July 2006 12:27 (nineteen years ago)

the ten most overpriced places in America, i.e. the ten places people pay the highest premiums to live in, i.e. an approximate list of the ten best places in America to live

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 July 2006 16:01 (nineteen years ago)

enh, maybe 5 of them

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Saturday, 22 July 2006 16:46 (nineteen years ago)

Forbes list of best cities for singles

1. Denver-Boulder
Boston
Phoenix
San Francisco- Oakland
New York
Raleigh-Durham
Seattle
Austin
Washington- Baltimore
Miami

11.Columbus
Philadelphia
Sacramento
Minneapolis-St Paul
New Orleans
Atlanta
Milwaukee
San Diego
Los Angeles
Providence

21. Las Vegas
Chicago
Nashville
Orlando
Charlotte
Cincinnati
Portland
Indianapolis
Dallas-Fort Worth
Kansas City

31. St Louis
Pittsburgh
Detroit
Houston
Tampa
Salt Lake City
Cleveland
San Antonio
Norfolk
Greensboro

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 27 July 2006 20:30 (nineteen years ago)

"Phoenix is filled with [beautiful people]," says Randy Stein, a producer for the Johnjay & Rich Morning Show on Phoenix's 104.7 Kiss FM. "It's L.A., but better. It's a little bit smaller, a little bit more close-knit, but still you get the beautiful Hollywood-type feel."

― kingfish cyclopean ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 27 July 2006 20:35 (nineteen years ago)

using the criteria in the 'Find your best place' box turns up some interesting results.

I picked everything as 'very important' except for good weather, and NYC came up as #1. NYC also came up as #1 selecting everything but low crime rate as very important.

Selecting only 'good weather', the top 12 are in Arizona and the rest are NV, NM, and CA deserts. Guess it depends on whether or not you consider 115 degree days in the summer "good weather".

― josh in sf (stfu kthx), Thursday, 27 July 2006 22:05 (nineteen years ago)

that's really weird - desert weather is totally insane in my experience. Sure no snow or hurricanes or tornadoes, but lots of random rainstorms and insane heat.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 27 July 2006 22:08 (nineteen years ago)

all you need to know about that survey is that it thinks Phoenix is the best city in America for culture, and Cincinnati the best for nightlife

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 27 July 2006 22:48 (nineteen years ago)

oh, mandee

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 27 July 2006 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

san diego's median home price is basically $493,000 and is one of the reasons i'm not even living there anymore so the fact that MONEY magazine puts it on its list of 10 best places and says that "affordable" housing is supposed to be reflected in that list really p's me o

i am totally never buying another issue of MONEY magazine

― ath (ath), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:31 (nineteen years ago)

also all the culture in phoenix is actually in tempe and in tempe it's all contained within a building called LES GIRLS

― ath (ath), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:32 (nineteen years ago)

I still have my membership card for Orange County Social Club some where around here.

I can't be objective about NC cities. I spent 20 years in eastern NC, and 5 in the "big" cities of Raleigh and Greensboro. I never want to go back to any of it.

― Jeff. (Jeff), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:39 (nineteen years ago)

I also think that it's funny that Jacksonville, NC is the youngest city. Mainly because it's teeming with 18 year old marines.

― Jeff. (Jeff), Friday, 28 July 2006 00:42 (nineteen years ago)

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