Places Rated Books LLC

Places Rated^® Almanac

Book Information

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Rankings

Here are the rankings for each of the top cities:

• Ambience Rankings (PDF)
• Climate Rankings (PDF)
• Crime Rankings (PDF)
• Education Rankings (PDF)
• Health Rankings (PDF)
• Housing Rankings (PDF)
• Jobs Rankings (PDF)
• Recreation Rankings (PDF)
• Transportation Rankings (PDF)

About the Book

It’s Been Years Since the Last Edition…

Places Rated Almanac is Here!

Whether you’re searching for a place to launch a career, relocate a business or family, or just curious about how your hometown compares, the latest (and 25th anniversary) edition of Places Rated Almanac is meant for you.

Every one of America’s 379 metro areas is rated by things that are important to anyone considering a move. Places Rated Almanac has nine main sections:

1. Ambience

   Ambience compares cultural assets. Diversity, religion, and politics; historic districts; good bookstores; and good restaurants also go into the mix. Quick Takes:

   • Most liberal: Yuma, Arizona
   • Most conservative: Hinesville-Fort Stewart, Georgia
   • Youngest: Jacksonville, North Carolina
   • Most historic: Baltimore, Maryland

2. Housing

   Housing reports prices for Starter, Move Up, and Elite houses, property taxes, and utilities. Also considered: Recent price appreciation and typical apartment rents. Quick Takes:

   • Lowest home price appreciation: Lafayette, Indiana
   • Most expensive Starter home: San Francisco
   • Cheapest Elite home: Brownsville, Texas
   • The renter majority: New York

3. Jobs

   Jobs reports local unemployment risks and job growth forecasts to the year 2015 in basic industries, especially the higher-paying ones like manufacturing, transportation, communications, and government. Quick Takes:

   • Brightest forecast: Austin-Round Rock, Texas
   • Worker purgatory: Gadsden, Alabama
   • Blue-collar Blues: Danville, Virginia

4. Crime

   Crime reports the average annual number of violent and property crimes per 100,000 people over the past 10 years and whether the trend is upward, downward or unchanged. Quick Takes:

   • Dangerous resort: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
   • Car theft capital: Fresno, CA
   • Lowest criminal activity: Wausau, Wisconsin

5. Transportation

   Transportation details commuting time, public transit, and how easy it is to get into and out of each metro area by air, rail, and interstate highway. Quick Takes:

   • Shortest commute: Grand Forks, North Dakota
   • Busiest International Gateway: LAX Los Angeles
   • Package delivery hubs: Memphis (FedEx) and Louisville (UPS)

6. Education

   Each metro area’s public and private schools, its collection of colleges and universities, and its public libraries produce an Education rating. Quick Takes:

   • Highest library use: Portland, Oregon
   • Lowest library use: Hanford-Corcoran, California
   • Highest percentage of parochial school pupils: Dubuque, Iowa

7. Health Care

   Health Care counts the supply of accredited hospitals and patient-treating physicians, plus special services like open-heart surgery and sports medicine. Quick Takes:

   • Medically specialized metro: Rochester, Minnesota
   • Medically generalized metro: Duluth, Minnesota
   • Health care bargain: Hattiesburg, Mississippi
   • Osteopathic metro area: Lansing, Michigan

8. Recreation

   Recreation also rates assets, from public golf courses and movie theatres, to zoos, professional sports, ocean coastlines, and national parks, forests, and wildlife acreage. Quick Takes:

   • Top golf spot: Monroe, Michigan
   • Best skiing: Denver and Salt Lake City
   • Most protected recreation land: Bellingham, WA
   • Best metros for zoos: Chicago and San Diego

9. Climate

   Climate is rated on mildness, that is, how close temperatures remain to 65° Fahrenheit throughout the year. Brightness and stability also are part of the rating. Quick Takes:

   • Highest metro: Santa Fe, New Mexico
   • Not for depressives: Bremerton, Washington
   • Great summers: Portland, Maine and Oregon
   • Great winters: San Luis Obispo, California

662 pages, multiple maps, an index, and a personalized quiz to help you determine the factors most important to you.